RPGnet - User contributions [en]

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-30T19:31:28Z

Mock: /* Pages related to this topic */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture and Society==

* [[Flamepunk:Glossary|Glossary]]
* [[Flamepunk:Economy|Economy]]
* [[Flamepunk:Social Order|Social Order]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette|Etiquette]]

==Technology==

* [[Flamepunk:Flamebinding|Flamebinding]]
* [[Flamepunk:Industry|Industrial Flametech]]

==Factions==

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World of Flamepunk]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|People, Culture and Factions]]

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T19:27:08Z

Mock: /* The World */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society|The World of Flamepunk]]

==The World and Society==

===The World===

* Geography
* Climate
* Flora and Fauna

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page|Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_People%2C_Culture_and_Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|The World and Society]]

Flamepunk:Social Order

2008-01-30T19:26:05Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk:Social Order]]

==Everyday Life in Kiora==

Kiora is a stratified society whose structure is created and preserved by the influence of the three massive institutions that control a large part of the Kioran citizen's everyday life: the Church, the Guilds, and the Hadar.

===Lower Classes - The Common Laborer===

Life for the lower class is rarely pleasant. The dominant experience of the lower class Kioran is navigating their way through their Guild duties and their responsibilities to the Church, while trying to put enough food on the table not to starve. The Guilds' laborers - by far the most numerous of guild employees - spend their lives performing backbreaking, dangerous work in the massive forges and factories, paying just enough to keep most employees in perpetual debt with the Guild.

Smoke, heat, and soot are the lot of the Guild laborer, as is blacklung and the risk of a horrible death in a fiery accident. Employee dissatisfaction may be rampant, but mass protests are extremely rare, because the Guilds are not shy about using all of their leverage to compel compliance.

While the Guilds work the lower classes to the bone, the Church preaches that virtue is embodied in a selfless worship of the Holy Flame and a patient wait for the world to come. Dissatisfaction is smoothed over by the Church's services, inspiring sermons, and a careful and precise management of human behavior, born from centuries of experience.

For the common man or woman, the influence of the Hadar is found in the graft and bribery that often accompanies certain activities; in the exorbitant cost of non-Guild goods; and in the street violence that erupts with regularity in the poor neighborhoods.

===Middle Classes - The Merchants and Technicians===

Middle class Kiorans have it somewhat better. They are still often beholden to Guilds for their daily bread, and many of them remain in debt to Guilds for their entire lives. However, they're not spending their days in a scorching-hot factory, dying slowly of blacklung and toxic fumes, so they consider their lot to be fairly good.

The Kioran middle class is made up of mid-level Guild functionaries, Guild merchants, technical professionals such as surveyors, architects, and flametech experts, and Church personnel.

The Hadar influence on the middle classes falls mainly in the area of protection rackets, bribery, and black market goods.

===Upper Classes - Guild, Church, and Hadar Aristocracy===

Life as an upperclass Kioran is life above the smoke and out of the flames. The upper classes of Kiora have fairly easy lives. Loyalty to their Guild and the Church is expected, and no upper class Kioran would fail to make proper obeisance and conduct themselves in a manner contrary to their loyalties - at leat, not where anyone could see.

The upper class comprises high-level Guild members, Church clergy, and an aristocracy born of exceptional good fortune and shrewd business acumen.

At the highest levels of society, the Hadar are simply another group of potential partners or rivals, and contracts, deals, and double-crosses are the stock and trade of high-class life.

==Technology Use in Kioran Society==

===Lower Class===

Lower class Kiorans make use of flametech to the extent that it is embedded in the fabric of society. Most use those elements of flametech that are common, household goods - heaters, stoves, communication bindstones, and weapons.

Bindstones used by the lower classes are often relatively cheap and fragile, surviving for a few uses before being consumed by the elemental energy. Tattooing is somewhat uncommon, since flamebinding tattoos are expensive, but some individuals will bear tattoos with basic functions. The most common tattoo among the lower classes is the heat ward sigil, allowing workers to work close to the autoforges without being killed within minutes, as an unprotected individual might be. Tattooing on laborers is almost always provided by the Guild, incurring considerable debt to the worker.

===Middle Class===

Middle class Kiora has a much broader use of flametech, including many more specialized and expensive tools than the workers.

It is common to see a middle class merchant or cleric with numerous bindstones for different uses - communications, recording information, mathematics and accounting tools, and so forth. Weaponry is far more sophisticated - where the lower classes typically rely on simply firedarts and burnblades, middle class Kiorans can acquire more advanced and expensive equipment such as hellswords, firelances, and the like.

===Upper Class===

Upper class Kiorans have their pick of advanced flametech. If it can be found, it can be bought. They also are frequently accompanied by bodyguards or personal guards, who are usually heavily decked out with bindstones, tattoos, and sophisticated, high-quality weaponry.

==Kioran Dress==

===Lower Class===

The guiding ethic among the laboring classes is "protection." Working in the searing heat, and in close proximity to molten metals and living flames, it is critical that clothing be made of materials that will not burn easily, but at the same time permit the body to cool itself.

Heavy canvas smocks, jackets, and gloves, often embedded with basic heat-wards, are common. Insulated boots with fire-resistant coatings cover thick leggings. Goggles and/or masks are used to withstand the glare. When not at work, much of this "working-class" garb is retained - the heavy shirts and leggings are common sights in the various pubs and taverns. This look is often adopted by flamepunks who seek ties with the downtrodden.

Colors are often drab, at least with the protective gear, so many workers wear bold swatches of color to accentuate their appearance - sashes, scarves, or sleeves of bright colors.

===Middle Class===

Dress among the middle classes is more elaborate and of much finer quality. Their exposure to the grime, smoke, and soot of society is less, and they can afford to dress in clothing that is less protective, and more attractive.

Current fashion trends for non-Hadar include high boots with a glossy finish, knee length coats with a bold, martial look, and soft shirts to emphasize their relative leisure compared to the workers. Ironically, there is a trend among certain groups to wear a heavy canvas loincloth-like article, perhaps to maintain a connection to the workers, while still maintaining their elevated stature. Dress for men and women is similar. Colors are bold.

===Upper Class===

With their wealth, the upper classes enjoy a very broad selection, but also suffer from the need to follow trends, which can change very rapidly. However, while clothing trends may change almost daily, the consistently high quality and fine handiwork of the clothing is a sure indicator of upper class status.

In addition to the fashion trends of the day, there are certain guidelines that, for decorum's sake, are followed. Outright nudity or prurient dress is frowned upon in polite circles (although in the privacy of the home - such as privacy is in a world where every flame is a potential gateway for Church surveillance - mores such as this are relaxed). Additionally, items that appear to denigrate the Church are not wise.

Bindstones are incorporated into dozens of different clothing items. A profusion of glittering bindstones is generally the mark of the upper crust.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:Economy]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk:Industry

2008-01-30T19:25:02Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk:Industry]]

==Heavy Industry==

;Autoforges
:mass production is often performed by semi-sentient, Guild-owned factory complexes that can forge and cast metal products for all manner of applications. Because of the "essential" nature of the realm of flame, autoforges and foundries often have a particular character - weapon forges might feel menacing, dangerous, and bleak, while forges manufacturing precision instruments would feel sterile and exacting.

;Bloodforges
:specialized forging complexes designed to reforge living beings, creating the "mulebloods." Also called fleshpits or "meatsmithys."

==Vehicles==

Aircraft and groundcraft exist (or at least, I think they should). Both sorts of vehicles are commonly called "engines" or "furnaces," and are universally driven by the energy of a flamebonded elemental housed inside the vehicle. Some various vehicles might be the '''War Furnaces''' (immense, fire-driven tanks with char-blackened armor), '''Windsparks''' (light, maneuverable aircraft), or '''Ember Trains''' (so named becuase of the flickering glow that coruscates over the hulls of the massive trains as the elementals envelop them and give them speed).

==Weaponry==

;Hellswords
:Swords with an elemental embedded in the living metal, lending them strength beyond normal levels and perhaps the ability to cut through metals/rocks, and lending additional benefit when flamerunning.

;Firedarts
:Small, commonly concealed pistol-like weapons that launch a cohesive bolt of elemental fire, with a useful range of approximately 50 feet.

;Cauterizers
:A specialized weapon most often seen among Hadar and Guild Burners, cauterizers consist of a pair of gloves that contain long coils of strong wire. When the gloves are touched together, the wires connect and can be drawn out between the hands. These loops can be released at any time (thus allowing the user to free a hand if necessary). Elemental flamebonding enables the wires to superheat, glowing red-white. There is a specific combat form associated with using cauterizers, necessitated by the unusual capabilities of the weapon.

;Pyre guns
:Large rifle-like weapons that project a column of heat (not flame) at a target. They must be held on target for a time to deliver their full effect, but they can start fires, burn flesh, or cut metal if used long enough (they are much like a laser).

;Flamebonded knuckles
:A series of wires and small cores embedded into the burner's knuckles, forming a crisscrossing network. These wires can be raised to a white-hot temperature (the user is insulated from this heat by the elemental's power) and magically hardened by a special type of forge elemental. This means that every strike from the user not only delivers a massive blow, but each blow can sear flesh and set clothing alight.

Flamepunk:Flamebinding

2008-01-30T19:24:19Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk:Flamebinding]]

===Introduction===

The culture and society of (Name of World) centers around one essential act: the control of elemental fire. This has spawned a massive technological infrastructure based entirely on applications of that ability, most importantly the derived technology of flamebinding - the embedding of an elemental flame into an object, which can then later be activated to tap the elemental's power.

There are those who say that this technology - the very heart of (Name of World)-ian society - threatens to bring about the end of the world. They might be right.

But the end of the world is far away, and you've got problems ''right now''.

===How Flamebinding Works===

At its heart each flame-bound effect has a small rune-scribed object as its anchor in our reality: a gem, a small stone or a bit of metal. These are commonly referred to as ''pathstones'' or (in this post anyway) ''cores''. As a side effect of the elemental binding process, using a core can make it very hot, slowly burning (or melting) away the runes, reducing efficiency until the elemental can no longer remain on this plane and the dead core is thrown away. Thus cheaper cores do not last as long, and are not as robust as more expensive, more heat-resistant core material. To make matters worse. If you damage the runes on a core there is the danger of the core spontaneously bursting into flame, thus combusting or exploding, as the confused elemental is released.

For the most part flame-binding is used as a source of energy and light that, unlike real fire, doesn't require the use of fuel (wood, coal, oil). Your house uses a bound ''blaze''-class elemental core (dumb but moderately hot) in the cellar to heat the place and you have a couple of ''glow''-class cores (really small and really dumb) in each room as a source of light.

Fire also works well as a weapon; hellswords, fire-arrows, Molotov-cores (inscribed on glass or ceramic plates so they break and explode when thrown), walking tank ''golem''-class elementals, etc.

Other cores allow the storage of information in an easily portable object; a a ''cipher''-class elemental (small but moderately bright) that creates full-color editable illusions in the air or that can repeat anything they are told to remember perfectly. Faster, though short-lived ''spark''-class elementals (that require no core because of their minutes-long life-span) can track down a specific individual's personal cipher core and perfectly transmit a message to it. Users can see a visible series of sparks actually traveling through the air from sender to recipient as they hold a "talk by post" via an AIM or IRC-style conversation. Guild offices are literally surrounded with clouds of moving sparks, making the cities glow brightly enough to blot out the stars.

Yet more elementals are used for transportation, typically as flaming steeds that pull glowing chariots or carriages with burning wheels through the sky.

Most people simply wear their cores around as jewelry (necklaces, rings and such), or build them into their houses and carriages, the way IRL people carry cellular phones and handguns, but these cores have the disadvantage of having to be spoken to, and they tend to take their orders very literally.

However, there are those who actually risk the danger of combustion to add the flame to their very flesh. These fire-eaters are easily identified by the flame-binding tattoos they require to bind the flames to their will, turning them into walking cores. These enhancements typically cost more than most people make in a year, however the elementals thus tied into a fire-eater's very being respond to their thoughts and emotions. Most enhancements increase an attribute in some way: muscle-burn, explosive-speed, plasma-plating; however, others work as built-in weapons (knuckle-dusters), protective measures (smokers-lung) or as sensory enhancement (dark-fire). The major danger of a flame-tattoo is if the scribed runes are damaged their bodies may overheat and combust the way any broken core would.

''Flame-speakers'' are those who, through study and natural skill, can force the elemental fire into the pattern they desire. Flame-speakers are the ones who have truly plumbed the mysteries of elemental flame and can accurately speak its language. Depending on their skill spread they can scribe a new flame-bound core, emplace tattoos on a prospective fire-eaters, or repair a damaged or malfunctioning core.

However, the best speakers are able to actually become one with the flame for a short time. Called ''flame-runners'', they have the ability to bend the core of an unwilling elemental to do their bidding. Flame-runners can trick sparks into repeating their messages to the wrong cipher, they can beguile a cipher into believing the flame-runner is its bound owner, and they can even temporarily entrance a golem into ignoring potential targets.

===Pages related to this topic===

[[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]

[[Flamepunk:Flamerunning]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk:Social Order

2008-01-30T19:24:02Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk:Social Order]]

==Everyday Life in Kiora==

Kiora is a stratified society whose structure is created and preserved by the influence of the three massive institutions that control a large part of the Kioran citizen's everyday life: the Church, the Guilds, and the Hadar.

==Lower Classes - The Common Laborer==

Life for the lower class is rarely pleasant. The dominant experience of the lower class Kioran is navigating their way through their Guild duties and their responsibilities to the Church, while trying to put enough food on the table not to starve. The Guilds' laborers - by far the most numerous of guild employees - spend their lives performing backbreaking, dangerous work in the massive forges and factories, paying just enough to keep most employees in perpetual debt with the Guild.

Smoke, heat, and soot are the lot of the Guild laborer, as is blacklung and the risk of a horrible death in a fiery accident. Employee dissatisfaction may be rampant, but mass protests are extremely rare, because the Guilds are not shy about using all of their leverage to compel compliance.

While the Guilds work the lower classes to the bone, the Church preaches that virtue is embodied in a selfless worship of the Holy Flame and a patient wait for the world to come. Dissatisfaction is smoothed over by the Church's services, inspiring sermons, and a careful and precise management of human behavior, born from centuries of experience.

For the common man or woman, the influence of the Hadar is found in the graft and bribery that often accompanies certain activities; in the exorbitant cost of non-Guild goods; and in the street violence that erupts with regularity in the poor neighborhoods.

==Middle Classes - The Merchants and Technicians==

Middle class Kiorans have it somewhat better. They are still often beholden to Guilds for their daily bread, and many of them remain in debt to Guilds for their entire lives. However, they're not spending their days in a scorching-hot factory, dying slowly of blacklung and toxic fumes, so they consider their lot to be fairly good.

The Kioran middle class is made up of mid-level Guild functionaries, Guild merchants, technical professionals such as surveyors, architects, and flametech experts, and Church personnel.

The Hadar influence on the middle classes falls mainly in the area of protection rackets, bribery, and black market goods.

==Upper Classes - Guild, Church, and Hadar Aristocracy==

Life as an upperclass Kioran is life above the smoke and out of the flames. The upper classes of Kiora have fairly easy lives. Loyalty to their Guild and the Church is expected, and no upper class Kioran would fail to make proper obeisance and conduct themselves in a manner contrary to their loyalties - at leat, not where anyone could see.

The upper class comprises high-level Guild members, Church clergy, and an aristocracy born of exceptional good fortune and shrewd business acumen.

At the highest levels of society, the Hadar are simply another group of potential partners or rivals, and contracts, deals, and double-crosses are the stock and trade of high-class life.

==Technology Use in Kioran Society==

===Lower Class===

Lower class Kiorans make use of flametech to the extent that it is embedded in the fabric of society. Most use those elements of flametech that are common, household goods - heaters, stoves, communication bindstones, and weapons.

Bindstones used by the lower classes are often relatively cheap and fragile, surviving for a few uses before being consumed by the elemental energy. Tattooing is somewhat uncommon, since flamebinding tattoos are expensive, but some individuals will bear tattoos with basic functions. The most common tattoo among the lower classes is the heat ward sigil, allowing workers to work close to the autoforges without being killed within minutes, as an unprotected individual might be. Tattooing on laborers is almost always provided by the Guild, incurring considerable debt to the worker.

===Middle Class===

Middle class Kiora has a much broader use of flametech, including many more specialized and expensive tools than the workers.

It is common to see a middle class merchant or cleric with numerous bindstones for different uses - communications, recording information, mathematics and accounting tools, and so forth. Weaponry is far more sophisticated - where the lower classes typically rely on simply firedarts and burnblades, middle class Kiorans can acquire more advanced and expensive equipment such as hellswords, firelances, and the like.

===Upper Class===

Upper class Kiorans have their pick of advanced flametech. If it can be found, it can be bought. They also are frequently accompanied by bodyguards or personal guards, who are usually heavily decked out with bindstones, tattoos, and sophisticated, high-quality weaponry.

==Kioran Dress==

===Lower Class===

The guiding ethic among the laboring classes is "protection." Working in the searing heat, and in close proximity to molten metals and living flames, it is critical that clothing be made of materials that will not burn easily, but at the same time permit the body to cool itself.

Heavy canvas smocks, jackets, and gloves, often embedded with basic heat-wards, are common. Insulated boots with fire-resistant coatings cover thick leggings. Goggles and/or masks are used to withstand the glare. When not at work, much of this "working-class" garb is retained - the heavy shirts and leggings are common sights in the various pubs and taverns. This look is often adopted by flamepunks who seek ties with the downtrodden.

Colors are often drab, at least with the protective gear, so many workers wear bold swatches of color to accentuate their appearance - sashes, scarves, or sleeves of bright colors.

===Middle Class===

Dress among the middle classes is more elaborate and of much finer quality. Their exposure to the grime, smoke, and soot of society is less, and they can afford to dress in clothing that is less protective, and more attractive.

Current fashion trends for non-Hadar include high boots with a glossy finish, knee length coats with a bold, martial look, and soft shirts to emphasize their relative leisure compared to the workers. Ironically, there is a trend among certain groups to wear a heavy canvas loincloth-like article, perhaps to maintain a connection to the workers, while still maintaining their elevated stature. Dress for men and women is similar. Colors are bold.

===Upper Class===

With their wealth, the upper classes enjoy a very broad selection, but also suffer from the need to follow trends, which can change very rapidly. However, while clothing trends may change almost daily, the consistently high quality and fine handiwork of the clothing is a sure indicator of upper class status.

In addition to the fashion trends of the day, there are certain guidelines that, for decorum's sake, are followed. Outright nudity or prurient dress is frowned upon in polite circles (although in the privacy of the home - such as privacy is in a world where every flame is a potential gateway for Church surveillance - mores such as this are relaxed). Additionally, items that appear to denigrate the Church are not wise.

Bindstones are incorporated into dozens of different clothing items. A profusion of glittering bindstones is generally the mark of the upper crust.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:Economy]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk:Social Order

2008-01-30T19:23:47Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk:Social Order]]

==Everyday Life in Kiora==

Kiora is a stratified society whose structure is created and preserved by the influence of the three massive institutions that control a large part of the Kioran citizen's everyday life: the Church, the Guilds, and the Hadar.

==Lower Classes - The Common Laborer==

Life for the lower class is rarely pleasant. The dominant experience of the lower class Kioran is navigating their way through their Guild duties and their responsibilities to the Church, while trying to put enough food on the table not to starve. The Guilds' laborers - by far the most numerous of guild employees - spend their lives performing backbreaking, dangerous work in the massive forges and factories, paying just enough to keep most employees in perpetual debt with the Guild.

Smoke, heat, and soot are the lot of the Guild laborer, as is blacklung and the risk of a horrible death in a fiery accident. Employee dissatisfaction may be rampant, but mass protests are extremely rare, because the Guilds are not shy about using all of their leverage to compel compliance.

While the Guilds work the lower classes to the bone, the Church preaches that virtue is embodied in a selfless worship of the Holy Flame and a patient wait for the world to come. Dissatisfaction is smoothed over by the Church's services, inspiring sermons, and a careful and precise management of human behavior, born from centuries of experience.

For the common man or woman, the influence of the Hadar is found in the graft and bribery that often accompanies certain activities; in the exorbitant cost of non-Guild goods; and in the street violence that erupts with regularity in the poor neighborhoods.

==Middle Classes - The Merchants and Technicians==

Middle class Kiorans have it somewhat better. They are still often beholden to Guilds for their daily bread, and many of them remain in debt to Guilds for their entire lives. However, they're not spending their days in a scorching-hot factory, dying slowly of blacklung and toxic fumes, so they consider their lot to be fairly good.

The Kioran middle class is made up of mid-level Guild functionaries, Guild merchants, technical professionals such as surveyors, architects, and flametech experts, and Church personnel.

The Hadar influence on the middle classes falls mainly in the area of protection rackets, bribery, and black market goods.

==Upper Classes - Guild, Church, and Hadar Aristocracy==

Life as an upperclass Kioran is life above the smoke and out of the flames. The upper classes of Kiora have fairly easy lives. Loyalty to their Guild and the Church is expected, and no upper class Kioran would fail to make proper obeisance and conduct themselves in a manner contrary to their loyalties - at leat, not where anyone could see.

The upper class comprises high-level Guild members, Church clergy, and an aristocracy born of exceptional good fortune and shrewd business acumen.

At the highest levels of society, the Hadar are simply another group of potential partners or rivals, and contracts, deals, and double-crosses are the stock and trade of high-class life.

==Technology Use in Kioran Society==

===Lower Class===

Lower class Kiorans make use of flametech to the extent that it is embedded in the fabric of society. Most use those elements of flametech that are common, household goods - heaters, stoves, communication bindstones, and weapons.

Bindstones used by the lower classes are often relatively cheap and fragile, surviving for a few uses before being consumed by the elemental energy. Tattooing is somewhat uncommon, since flamebinding tattoos are expensive, but some individuals will bear tattoos with basic functions. The most common tattoo among the lower classes is the heat ward sigil, allowing workers to work close to the autoforges without being killed within minutes, as an unprotected individual might be. Tattooing on laborers is almost always provided by the Guild, incurring considerable debt to the worker.

===Middle Class===

Middle class Kiora has a much broader use of flametech, including many more specialized and expensive tools than the workers.

It is common to see a middle class merchant or cleric with numerous bindstones for different uses - communications, recording information, mathematics and accounting tools, and so forth. Weaponry is far more sophisticated - where the lower classes typically rely on simply firedarts and burnblades, middle class Kiorans can acquire more advanced and expensive equipment such as hellswords, firelances, and the like.

===Upper Class===

Upper class Kiorans have their pick of advanced flametech. If it can be found, it can be bought. They also are frequently accompanied by bodyguards or personal guards, who are usually heavily decked out with bindstones, tattoos, and sophisticated, high-quality weaponry.

==Kioran Dress==

===Lower Class===

The guiding ethic among the laboring classes is "protection." Working in the searing heat, and in close proximity to molten metals and living flames, it is critical that clothing be made of materials that will not burn easily, but at the same time permit the body to cool itself.

Heavy canvas smocks, jackets, and gloves, often embedded with basic heat-wards, are common. Insulated boots with fire-resistant coatings cover thick leggings. Goggles and/or masks are used to withstand the glare. When not at work, much of this "working-class" garb is retained - the heavy shirts and leggings are common sights in the various pubs and taverns. This look is often adopted by flamepunks who seek ties with the downtrodden.

Colors are often drab, at least with the protective gear, so many workers wear bold swatches of color to accentuate their appearance - sashes, scarves, or sleeves of bright colors.

===Middle Class===

Dress among the middle classes is more elaborate and of much finer quality. Their exposure to the grime, smoke, and soot of society is less, and they can afford to dress in clothing that is less protective, and more attractive.

Current fashion trends for non-Hadar include high boots with a glossy finish, knee length coats with a bold, martial look, and soft shirts to emphasize their relative leisure compared to the workers. Ironically, there is a trend among certain groups to wear a heavy canvas loincloth-like article, perhaps to maintain a connection to the workers, while still maintaining their elevated stature. Dress for men and women is similar. Colors are bold.

===Upper Class===

With their wealth, the upper classes enjoy a very broad selection, but also suffer from the need to follow trends, which can change very rapidly. However, while clothing trends may change almost daily, the consistently high quality and fine handiwork of the clothing is a sure indicator of upper class status.

In addition to the fashion trends of the day, there are certain guidelines that, for decorum's sake, are followed. Outright nudity or prurient dress is frowned upon in polite circles (although in the privacy of the home - such as privacy is in a world where every flame is a potential gateway for Church surveillance - mores such as this are relaxed). Additionally, items that appear to denigrate the Church are not wise.

Bindstones are incorporated into dozens of different clothing items. A profusion of glittering bindstones is generally the mark of the upper crust.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:Economy]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T19:22:59Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society|The World of Flamepunk]]

==The World and Society==

===The World===

* Geography
* Climate
* Fauna

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page|Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_People%2C_Culture_and_Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|The World and Society]]

Flamepunk:Main Page

2008-01-30T19:22:31Z

Mock: /* Setting */

=Flamepunk=

''The sky above Sardukar was the colour of charcoal, roasted by the flickering flames below.

''Skaz shouldered his way through the hulking mulebloods standing watch over the door of the Cascade. Cool air and mist flowed around him as he stepped in; the Cascade wasn't a tavern for blazers. You could drink there for a week and not see a single spark.

''Today, however, was not a typical day. At a far corner table sat Ella herself, surrounded by cheap hired blazers. One of them gestured towards Skaz, his flamebonded knuckles glittering with sparks. Skaz found his way to the table, pushing past a group of Kiora warriors, with muscled chests covered in ritual scarring. "I see you got yourself all ashfaced, Skaz." Ella said, as Skaz settled across from her. "Business not so good?"

''Skaz shrugged. Behind him, the Kiora started singing a drunken chant. "I keep myself busy enough." he said, "So what brings you to a icepit like this?"

''A broad smile spread across the face of the Queen of Cinders. "You."

'''-William Gibson's Pyromancer'''

 
I ''love'' cyberpunk. I love the gritty feeling of chrome on my fingertips, of street punks fighting the corporate machine. Who doesn't? Sometimes, however, it can feel a little old. Eighties nostalgia only takes you so far. Leather and mirrorshades go out with last season's wardrobe. So... I'd like to dress the punk up in some new clothes.

They'd better be fireproof.

==The Pitch==

Magic in Flamepunk consists of essentially one thing: the summoning, binding, and control of elementals from the [[Flamepunk: The Realm of Flames|Realm of Flames]]. This magic, however, has forged the basis for an entire civilization, built on the power of unearthly flames. Never doubt the adeptness of the human mind when it comes to adapting to new ideas. Industry and transportation, engineering and medicine; the art of elemental binding has been used to revolutionize every science and field of endeavour.

A society has grown where the binder is king, and fire is his tool. Applications range from molten forges that warp and shape metal by themselves, to precise scapels of fire that cut and slice with pinpoint accuracy, from engines that drive on wheels of fire, to the boiling fleshpits where the flesh of men is melted and reforged into the hulking mulebloods...

==The Price==

There's no such thing as a free lunch. With every elemental called into the world, a little of the sun's warmth is lost. The ice fields begin to creep south, destroying the livelihoods and homelands of farmers and villagers. As the cityfolk bask in the flames of a new era, the broader land grows cursed by an ever-deepening winter...

==The Powers==

Follow the Money, and you'll find the Man.

Follow the money and it will lead you to the mighty [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|Guilds]]; binders and cindersmiths, merchants and fleshshapers. These conglomerates, rich and decadent, hold sway over the cities of brass. Guildmasters command private armies and flamecraft beyond imagining, and squabble amongst themselves in subtle wars for power, wealth, and status...

The [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|Church of the Holy Flame]] is perhaps little more than a tool of the Guilds for controlling the populace, but it is nonetheless a powerful tool. Great cathedrals rise in its name. Its priests are often skilled binders, and they command the loyalty of the faithful. And woe betide he who offers prayers to the Old Gods, for the Inquisiton of the Cleansing Flame gives no mercy to idolators and demon-worshippers...

The [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|Hadar families]] are criminals whose power rivals that of the Guilds. With fingers in every pie and at every level of society, they are dealers in sin and blood without equal. The Hadar tattoo themselves with images of black flames; it is whispered that they have made pacts with dark elemental lords, who grant them the power to douse flames and shatter lights...

==The Punks==

In the slums and poorhouses of the growing cities, forces have begun to arise that challenge the system; youths who chafe at the bit and gangs who fight to tear down the structures of society. The disenfranchised want to hit back; and they have the tools to do it. Gang members with nothing to lose have elementals bound into their very bodies; sparkflash eyes, flamebound knuckles, and tongues of flame.

Other, bolder souls take up the deadly art of [[Flamepunk: Flamerunning|flamerunning]], projecting themselves into the Realm of Flames itself, where flame can be manipulated from afar and the souls of the dead can be found. Within the Realm, the laws of the physical world are less important than willpower and emotion... a sword is forged from the feeling of hate you have when you hit someone, a candle from desire to be protected against the dark.

=Contents=

==Setting==

*[[Flamepunk: History|History]]
*[[Flamepunk: The World and Society|The World of Flamepunk]]
*[[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]
 

==Rules==

*[[Flamepunk: Character Generation: The Forge|Character Generation: The Forge]]
*[[Flamepunk: Basic Rules|Basic Rules]]
*[[Flamepunk: Combat and Conflict|Combat and Conflict]]
*[[Flamepunk: Social Combat|Social Combat]]
*[[Flamepunk: Action Scenes|Action Scenes]]

*[[Flamepunk: Technology and Weaponry|Technology and Weaponry]]
*[[Flamepunk: Magic, Summoning and Elementalism|Magic, Summoning and Elementalism]]
*[[Flamepunk: Flamerunning|Flamerunning]]
 

=Resources=

Game resources:

*[[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=373811 Game Design Discussion Thread]]
 

=Credits=

 '''Original concept imagined by ''TheLoneAmigo'' of rpg.net.'''

'''Setting and background provided by:'''

* ''[[User:Mock|Mock]]'' of rpg.net.

''* add your names!''

'''Game Rules created by:'''

* ''[[User:Asklepios|Asklepios]]'' of rpg.net.

[[Category:Flamepunk|*]]

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-30T19:21:39Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture and Society==

* [[Flamepunk:Glossary|Glossary]]
* [[Flamepunk:Economy|Economy]]
* [[Flamepunk:Social Order|Social Order]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette|Etiquette]]

==Technology==

* [[Flamepunk:Flamebinding|Flamebinding]]
* [[Flamepunk:Industry|Industrial Flametech]]

==Factions==

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|People, Culture and Factions]]

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T19:19:42Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]

==The World and Society==

===The World===

* Geography
* Climate
* Fauna

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page|Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_People%2C_Culture_and_Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|The World and Society]]

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-30T18:46:29Z

Mock: /* Minor Factions */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture==

* [[Flamepunk:Glossary|Glossary]]

==Factions==

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|People, Culture and Factions]]

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-30T18:46:15Z

Mock: /* Major Factions */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture==

* [[Flamepunk:Glossary|Glossary]]

==Factions==

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]

===Minor Factions===

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|People, Culture and Factions]]

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-30T18:45:51Z

Mock: /* Major Factions */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture==

* [[Flamepunk:Glossary|Glossary]]

==Factions==

===Major Factions===

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]

===Minor Factions===

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|People, Culture and Factions]]

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-30T18:45:01Z

Mock: /* Major Factions */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture==

* [[Flamepunk:Glossary|Glossary]]

==Factions==

===Major Factions===

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]: Massive corporate conglomerates with a tight grip on the throat of the (Name of World) economy.
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]: A sprawling religious bureaucracy that appeases the people while perpetuating the use of flamebinding magic.
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]: Powerful families and clans woven together by a web of debts, marriages, and contracts going back thousands of years, the Hadar are involved in enterprises both legitimate and criminal.

===Minor Factions===

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|People, Culture and Factions]]

Flamepunk:Glossary

2008-01-30T18:43:33Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk:Glossary]]

A host of fire-related slang terms has grown with the burgeoning ranks of flamerunners and dispossessed street punks that fill the cities of Kiora.

;Ash
:Excrement, offal (or, more generally, undesirable). Ash is what's left behind after a fire, and its use to mean "shit" was a natural development.

;Binder
:General term for someone who can bind elemental flame.

;Blazer
:Street slang for a person who can enter ''flamespace''. Also sometimes used as a synonym for ''burner'' (see below).

;Brands
:Firebrands (actually a form of tattoing) used to augment the body.

;Brass
:One of the more common metals used to form flamerunning equipment, brass is used generally to mean "high-end, fancy equipment."

;Burn
:Fight. Also used the sense of "get it on," "get going," or "let's roll."

;Burner
:Slang term for street tough, figher, or hired muscle. Generally considered a catch-all epithet for a buddy or companion.

;Family
:A member of the Hadar, e.g. '''"Stay away from that blazer. He's Family."''

;Flamespace
:The realm of flames, where physical reality is broken down to its elemental essences. This is the playground of the ''flamerunners''.

;Icepit
:A place where the spark (see below) is chronically absent; a boring place. An uncool (in the sense of popular) location.

;Muleblood
: In the brutally hot bloodforges, fleshshapers use the power of the Flame Realm to melt and reshape the flesh of men, turning them into...something else. They are reforged into an amalgam of flesh, metal and fire. These fearful creatures are called, in common parlance, '''mulebloods'''. Fleshshapers tend to refer to them as the "reforged," however.

;Snuff
:Derisive term for a chump, or a loser, someone whose spark is weak. ''"You want a piece of this, snuff? Come on then, let's burn." Also '''gutter'''.

;Spark
:Slang for firebonding or other fire magic, and the frequently visual side effects of the same. Typically, used to indicate the presence or absence of interesting stuff going on, e.g., ''Let's get outta here, burner. There's no spark in this icepit."

Flamepunk:Glossary

2008-01-30T18:42:54Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]] -> [[Flamepunk:Glossary]]

A host of fire-related slang terms has grown with the burgeoning ranks of flamerunners and dispossessed street punks that fill the cities of Kiora.

;Ash
:Excrement, offal (or, more generally, undesirable). Ash is what's left behind after a fire, and its use to mean "shit" was a natural development.

;Binder
:General term for someone who can bind elemental flame.

;Blazer
:Street slang for a person who can enter ''flamespace''. Also sometimes used as a synonym for ''burner'' (see below).

;Brands
:Firebrands (actually a form of tattoing) used to augment the body.

;Brass
:One of the more common metals used to form flamerunning equipment, brass is used generally to mean "high-end, fancy equipment."

;Burn
:Fight. Also used the sense of "get it on," "get going," or "let's roll."

;Burner
:Slang term for street tough, figher, or hired muscle. Generally considered a catch-all epithet for a buddy or companion.

;Family
:A member of the Hadar, e.g. '''"Stay away from that blazer. He's Family."''

;Flamespace
:The realm of flames, where physical reality is broken down to its elemental essences. This is the playground of the ''flamerunners''.

;Icepit
:A place where the spark (see below) is chronically absent; a boring place. An uncool (in the sense of popular) location.

;Muleblood
: In the brutally hot bloodforges, fleshshapers use the power of the Flame Realm to melt and reshape the flesh of men, turning them into...something else. They are reforged into an amalgam of flesh, metal and fire. These fearful creatures are called, in common parlance, '''mulebloods'''. Fleshshapers tend to refer to them as the "reforged," however.

;Snuff
:Derisive term for a chump, or a loser, someone whose spark is weak. ''"You want a piece of this, snuff? Come on then, let's burn." Also '''gutter'''.

;Spark
:Slang for firebonding or other fire magic, and the frequently visual side effects of the same. Typically, used to indicate the presence or absence of interesting stuff going on, e.g., ''Let's get outta here, burner. There's no spark in this icepit."

Flamepunk:Glossary

2008-01-30T18:42:29Z

Mock:

A host of fire-related slang terms has grown with the burgeoning ranks of flamerunners and dispossessed street punks that fill the cities of Kiora.

;Ash
:Excrement, offal (or, more generally, undesirable). Ash is what's left behind after a fire, and its use to mean "shit" was a natural development.

;Binder
:General term for someone who can bind elemental flame.

;Blazer
:Street slang for a person who can enter ''flamespace''. Also sometimes used as a synonym for ''burner'' (see below).

;Brands
:Firebrands (actually a form of tattoing) used to augment the body.

;Brass
:One of the more common metals used to form flamerunning equipment, brass is used generally to mean "high-end, fancy equipment."

;Burn
:Fight. Also used the sense of "get it on," "get going," or "let's roll."

;Burner
:Slang term for street tough, figher, or hired muscle. Generally considered a catch-all epithet for a buddy or companion.

;Family
:A member of the Hadar, e.g. '''"Stay away from that blazer. He's Family."''

;Flamespace
:The realm of flames, where physical reality is broken down to its elemental essences. This is the playground of the ''flamerunners''.

;Icepit
:A place where the spark (see below) is chronically absent; a boring place. An uncool (in the sense of popular) location.

;Muleblood
: In the brutally hot bloodforges, fleshshapers use the power of the Flame Realm to melt and reshape the flesh of men, turning them into...something else. They are reforged into an amalgam of flesh, metal and fire. These fearful creatures are called, in common parlance, '''mulebloods'''. Fleshshapers tend to refer to them as the "reforged," however.

;Snuff
:Derisive term for a chump, or a loser, someone whose spark is weak. ''"You want a piece of this, snuff? Come on then, let's burn." Also '''gutter'''.

;Spark
:Slang for firebonding or other fire magic, and the frequently visual side effects of the same. Typically, used to indicate the presence or absence of interesting stuff going on, e.g., ''Let's get outta here, burner. There's no spark in this icepit."

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-30T18:42:06Z

Mock: /* Culture */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture==

* [[Flamepunk:Glossary|Glossary]]

==Factions==

===Major Factions===

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

====[[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]====

Massive corporate conglomerates with a tight grip on the throat of the (Name of World) economy.

====[[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]====

A sprawling religious bureaucracy that appeases the people while perpetuating the use of flamebinding magic.

====[[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]====

Powerful families and clans woven together by a web of debts, marriages, and contracts going back thousands of years, the Hadar are involved in enterprises both legitimate and criminal.

===Minor Factions===

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|People, Culture and Factions]]

Flamepunk:Social Order

2008-01-30T18:40:40Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]] -> [[Flamepunk:Social Order]]

==Everyday Life in Kiora==

Kiora is a stratified society whose structure is created and preserved by the influence of the three massive institutions that control a large part of the Kioran citizen's everyday life: the Church, the Guilds, and the Hadar.

==Lower Classes - The Common Laborer==

Life for the lower class is rarely pleasant. The dominant experience of the lower class Kioran is navigating their way through their Guild duties and their responsibilities to the Church, while trying to put enough food on the table not to starve. The Guilds' laborers - by far the most numerous of guild employees - spend their lives performing backbreaking, dangerous work in the massive forges and factories, paying just enough to keep most employees in perpetual debt with the Guild.

Smoke, heat, and soot are the lot of the Guild laborer, as is blacklung and the risk of a horrible death in a fiery accident. Employee dissatisfaction may be rampant, but mass protests are extremely rare, because the Guilds are not shy about using all of their leverage to compel compliance.

While the Guilds work the lower classes to the bone, the Church preaches that virtue is embodied in a selfless worship of the Holy Flame and a patient wait for the world to come. Dissatisfaction is smoothed over by the Church's services, inspiring sermons, and a careful and precise management of human behavior, born from centuries of experience.

For the common man or woman, the influence of the Hadar is found in the graft and bribery that often accompanies certain activities; in the exorbitant cost of non-Guild goods; and in the street violence that erupts with regularity in the poor neighborhoods.

==Middle Classes - The Merchants and Technicians==

Middle class Kiorans have it somewhat better. They are still often beholden to Guilds for their daily bread, and many of them remain in debt to Guilds for their entire lives. However, they're not spending their days in a scorching-hot factory, dying slowly of blacklung and toxic fumes, so they consider their lot to be fairly good.

The Kioran middle class is made up of mid-level Guild functionaries, Guild merchants, technical professionals such as surveyors, architects, and flametech experts, and Church personnel.

The Hadar influence on the middle classes falls mainly in the area of protection rackets, bribery, and black market goods.

==Upper Classes - Guild, Church, and Hadar Aristocracy==

Life as an upperclass Kioran is life above the smoke and out of the flames. The upper classes of Kiora have fairly easy lives. Loyalty to their Guild and the Church is expected, and no upper class Kioran would fail to make proper obeisance and conduct themselves in a manner contrary to their loyalties - at leat, not where anyone could see.

The upper class comprises high-level Guild members, Church clergy, and an aristocracy born of exceptional good fortune and shrewd business acumen.

At the highest levels of society, the Hadar are simply another group of potential partners or rivals, and contracts, deals, and double-crosses are the stock and trade of high-class life.

==Technology Use in Kioran Society==

===Lower Class===

Lower class Kiorans make use of flametech to the extent that it is embedded in the fabric of society. Most use those elements of flametech that are common, household goods - heaters, stoves, communication bindstones, and weapons.

Bindstones used by the lower classes are often relatively cheap and fragile, surviving for a few uses before being consumed by the elemental energy. Tattooing is somewhat uncommon, since flamebinding tattoos are expensive, but some individuals will bear tattoos with basic functions. The most common tattoo among the lower classes is the heat ward sigil, allowing workers to work close to the autoforges without being killed within minutes, as an unprotected individual might be. Tattooing on laborers is almost always provided by the Guild, incurring considerable debt to the worker.

===Middle Class===

Middle class Kiora has a much broader use of flametech, including many more specialized and expensive tools than the workers.

It is common to see a middle class merchant or cleric with numerous bindstones for different uses - communications, recording information, mathematics and accounting tools, and so forth. Weaponry is far more sophisticated - where the lower classes typically rely on simply firedarts and burnblades, middle class Kiorans can acquire more advanced and expensive equipment such as hellswords, firelances, and the like.

===Upper Class===

Upper class Kiorans have their pick of advanced flametech. If it can be found, it can be bought. They also are frequently accompanied by bodyguards or personal guards, who are usually heavily decked out with bindstones, tattoos, and sophisticated, high-quality weaponry.

==Kioran Dress==

===Lower Class===

The guiding ethic among the laboring classes is "protection." Working in the searing heat, and in close proximity to molten metals and living flames, it is critical that clothing be made of materials that will not burn easily, but at the same time permit the body to cool itself.

Heavy canvas smocks, jackets, and gloves, often embedded with basic heat-wards, are common. Insulated boots with fire-resistant coatings cover thick leggings. Goggles and/or masks are used to withstand the glare. When not at work, much of this "working-class" garb is retained - the heavy shirts and leggings are common sights in the various pubs and taverns. This look is often adopted by flamepunks who seek ties with the downtrodden.

Colors are often drab, at least with the protective gear, so many workers wear bold swatches of color to accentuate their appearance - sashes, scarves, or sleeves of bright colors.

===Middle Class===

Dress among the middle classes is more elaborate and of much finer quality. Their exposure to the grime, smoke, and soot of society is less, and they can afford to dress in clothing that is less protective, and more attractive.

Current fashion trends for non-Hadar include high boots with a glossy finish, knee length coats with a bold, martial look, and soft shirts to emphasize their relative leisure compared to the workers. Ironically, there is a trend among certain groups to wear a heavy canvas loincloth-like article, perhaps to maintain a connection to the workers, while still maintaining their elevated stature. Dress for men and women is similar. Colors are bold.

===Upper Class===

With their wealth, the upper classes enjoy a very broad selection, but also suffer from the need to follow trends, which can change very rapidly. However, while clothing trends may change almost daily, the consistently high quality and fine handiwork of the clothing is a sure indicator of upper class status.

In addition to the fashion trends of the day, there are certain guidelines that, for decorum's sake, are followed. Outright nudity or prurient dress is frowned upon in polite circles (although in the privacy of the home - such as privacy is in a world where every flame is a potential gateway for Church surveillance - mores such as this are relaxed). Additionally, items that appear to denigrate the Church are not wise.

Bindstones are incorporated into dozens of different clothing items. A profusion of glittering bindstones is generally the mark of the upper crust.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:Economy]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk:Social Order

2008-01-30T18:39:51Z

Mock: /* Middle Classes - The Merchants and Technicians */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]] -> [[Flamepunk:Social Order]]

==Everyday Life in Kiora==

Kiora is a stratified society whose structure is created and preserved by the influence of the three massive institutions that control a large part of the Kioran citizen's everyday life: the Church, the Guilds, and the Hadar.

==Lower Classes - The Common Laborer==

Life for the lower class is rarely pleasant. The dominant experience of the lower class Kioran is navigating their way through their Guild duties and their responsibilities to the Church, while trying to put enough food on the table not to starve. The Guilds' laborers - by far the most numerous of guild employees - spend their lives performing backbreaking, dangerous work in the massive forges and factories, paying just enough to keep most employees in perpetual debt with the Guild.

Smoke, heat, and soot are the lot of the Guild laborer, as is blacklung and the risk of a horrible death in a fiery accident. Employee dissatisfaction may be rampant, but mass protests are extremely rare, because the Guilds are not shy about using all of their leverage to compel compliance.

While the Guilds work the lower classes to the bone, the Church preaches that virtue is embodied in a selfless worship of the Holy Flame and a patient wait for the world to come. Dissatisfaction is smoothed over by the Church's services, inspiring sermons, and a careful and precise management of human behavior, born from centuries of experience.

For the common man or woman, the influence of the Hadar is found in the graft and bribery that often accompanies certain activities; in the exorbitant cost of non-Guild goods; and in the street violence that erupts with regularity in the poor neighborhoods.

==Middle Classes - The Merchants and Technicians==

Middle class Kiorans have it somewhat better. They are still often beholden to Guilds for their daily bread, and many of them remain in debt to Guilds for their entire lives. However, they're not spending their days in a scorching-hot factory, dying slowly of blacklung and toxic fumes, so they consider their lot to be fairly good.

The Kioran middle class is made up of mid-level Guild functionaries, Guild merchants, technical professionals such as surveyors, architects, and flametech experts, and Church personnel.

The Hadar influence on the middle classes falls mainly in the area of protection rackets, bribery, and black market goods.

==Upper Classes - Guild, Church, and Hadar Aristocracy==

Life as an upperclass Kioran is life above the smoke and out of the flames. The upper classes of Kiora have fairly easy lives. Loyalty to their Guild and the Church is expected, and no upper class Kioran would fail to make proper obeisance and conduct themselves in a manner contrary to their loyalties - at leat, not where anyone could see.

The upper class comprises high-level Guild members, Church clergy, and an aristocracy born of exceptional good fortune and shrewd business acumen.

At the highest levels of society, the Hadar are simply another group of potential partners or rivals, and contracts, deals, and double-crosses are the stock and trade of high-class life.

==Technology Use in Kioran Society==

===Lower Class===

Lower class Kiorans make use of flametech to the extent that it is embedded in the fabric of society. Most use those elements of flametech that are common, household goods - heaters, stoves, communication bindstones, and weapons.

Bindstones used by the lower classes are often relatively cheap and fragile, surviving for a few uses before being consumed by the elemental energy. Tattooing is somewhat uncommon, since flamebinding tattoos are expensive, but some individuals will bear tattoos with basic functions. The most common tattoo among the lower classes is the heat ward sigil, allowing workers to work close to the autoforges without being killed within minutes, as an unprotected individual might be. Tattooing on laborers is almost always provided by the Guild, incurring considerable debt to the worker.

===Middle Class===

Middle class Kiora has a much broader use of flametech, including many more specialized and expensive tools than the workers.

It is common to see a middle class merchant or cleric with numerous bindstones for different uses - communications, recording information, mathematics and accounting tools, and so forth. Weaponry is far more sophisticated - where the lower classes typically rely on simply firedarts and burnblades, middle class Kiorans can acquire more advanced and expensive equipment such as hellswords, firelances, and the like.

===Upper Class===

Upper class Kiorans have their pick of advanced flametech. If it can be found, it can be bought. They also are frequently accompanied by bodyguards or personal guards, who are usually heavily decked out with bindstones, tattoos, and sophisticated, high-quality weaponry.

==Kioran Dress==

===Lower Class===

The guiding ethic among the laboring classes is "protection." Working in the searing heat, and in close proximity to molten metals and living flames, it is critical that clothing be made of materials that will not burn easily, but at the same time permit the body to cool itself.

Heavy canvas smocks, jackets, and gloves, often embedded with basic heat-wards, are common. Insulated boots with fire-resistant coatings cover thick leggings. Goggles and/or masks are used to withstand the glare. When not at work, much of this "working-class" garb is retained - the heavy shirts and leggings are common sights in the various pubs and taverns. This look is often adopted by flamepunks who seek ties with the downtrodden.

Colors are often drab, at least with the protective gear, so many workers wear bold swatches of color to accentuate their appearance - sashes, scarves, or sleeves of bright colors.

===Middle Class===

Dress among the middle classes is more elaborate and of much finer quality. Their exposure to the grime, smoke, and soot of society is less, and they can afford to dress in clothing that is less protective, and more attractive.

Current fashion trends for non-Hadar include high boots with a glossy finish, knee length coats with a bold, martial look, and soft shirts to emphasize their relative leisure compared to the workers. Ironically, there is a trend among certain groups to wear a heavy canvas loincloth-like article, perhaps to maintain a connection to the workers, while still maintaining their elevated stature. Dress for men and women is similar. Colors are bold.

===Upper Class===

With their wealth, the upper classes enjoy a very broad selection, but also suffer from the need to follow trends, which can change very rapidly. However, while clothing trends may change almost daily, the consistently high quality and fine handiwork of the clothing is a sure indicator of upper class status.

In addition to the fashion trends of the day, there are certain guidelines that, for decorum's sake, are followed. Outright nudity or prurient dress is frowned upon in polite circles (although in the privacy of the home - such as privacy is in a world where every flame is a potential gateway for Church surveillance - mores such as this are relaxed). Additionally, items that appear to denigrate the Church are not wise.

Bindstones are incorporated into dozens of different clothing items. A profusion of glittering bindstones is generally the mark of the upper crust.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:Economics]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk:Social Order

2008-01-30T18:39:31Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]] -> [[Flamepunk:Social Order]]

==Everyday Life in Kiora==

Kiora is a stratified society whose structure is created and preserved by the influence of the three massive institutions that control a large part of the Kioran citizen's everyday life: the Church, the Guilds, and the Hadar.

==Lower Classes - The Common Laborer==

Life for the lower class is rarely pleasant. The dominant experience of the lower class Kioran is navigating their way through their Guild duties and their responsibilities to the Church, while trying to put enough food on the table not to starve. The Guilds' laborers - by far the most numerous of guild employees - spend their lives performing backbreaking, dangerous work in the massive forges and factories, paying just enough to keep most employees in perpetual debt with the Guild.

Smoke, heat, and soot are the lot of the Guild laborer, as is blacklung and the risk of a horrible death in a fiery accident. Employee dissatisfaction may be rampant, but mass protests are extremely rare, because the Guilds are not shy about using all of their leverage to compel compliance.

While the Guilds work the lower classes to the bone, the Church preaches that virtue is embodied in a selfless worship of the Holy Flame and a patient wait for the world to come. Dissatisfaction is smoothed over by the Church's services, inspiring sermons, and a careful and precise management of human behavior, born from centuries of experience.

For the common man or woman, the influence of the Hadar is found in the graft and bribery that often accompanies certain activities; in the exorbitant cost of non-Guild goods; and in the street violence that erupts with regularity in the poor neighborhoods.

==Middle Classes - The Merchants and Technicians==

Middle class Kiorans have it somewhat better. They are still often beholden to Guilds for their daily bread, and many of them remain in debt to Guilds for their entire lives. However, they're not spending their days in a scorching-hot factory, dying slowly of blacklung and toxic fumes, so they consider their lot to be fairly good.

The Kioran middle class is made up of mid-level Guild functionaries, Guild merchants, technical professionals such as surveyors, architects, and flametech experts, and Church personnel.

The Hadar influence on the middle classes falls mainly in the area of protection rackets, bribery, and black market goods.

Colors for both are usually bold.

==Upper Classes - Guild, Church, and Hadar Aristocracy==

Life as an upperclass Kioran is life above the smoke and out of the flames. The upper classes of Kiora have fairly easy lives. Loyalty to their Guild and the Church is expected, and no upper class Kioran would fail to make proper obeisance and conduct themselves in a manner contrary to their loyalties - at leat, not where anyone could see.

The upper class comprises high-level Guild members, Church clergy, and an aristocracy born of exceptional good fortune and shrewd business acumen.

At the highest levels of society, the Hadar are simply another group of potential partners or rivals, and contracts, deals, and double-crosses are the stock and trade of high-class life.

==Technology Use in Kioran Society==

===Lower Class===

Lower class Kiorans make use of flametech to the extent that it is embedded in the fabric of society. Most use those elements of flametech that are common, household goods - heaters, stoves, communication bindstones, and weapons.

Bindstones used by the lower classes are often relatively cheap and fragile, surviving for a few uses before being consumed by the elemental energy. Tattooing is somewhat uncommon, since flamebinding tattoos are expensive, but some individuals will bear tattoos with basic functions. The most common tattoo among the lower classes is the heat ward sigil, allowing workers to work close to the autoforges without being killed within minutes, as an unprotected individual might be. Tattooing on laborers is almost always provided by the Guild, incurring considerable debt to the worker.

===Middle Class===

Middle class Kiora has a much broader use of flametech, including many more specialized and expensive tools than the workers.

It is common to see a middle class merchant or cleric with numerous bindstones for different uses - communications, recording information, mathematics and accounting tools, and so forth. Weaponry is far more sophisticated - where the lower classes typically rely on simply firedarts and burnblades, middle class Kiorans can acquire more advanced and expensive equipment such as hellswords, firelances, and the like.

===Upper Class===

Upper class Kiorans have their pick of advanced flametech. If it can be found, it can be bought. They also are frequently accompanied by bodyguards or personal guards, who are usually heavily decked out with bindstones, tattoos, and sophisticated, high-quality weaponry.

==Kioran Dress==

===Lower Class===

The guiding ethic among the laboring classes is "protection." Working in the searing heat, and in close proximity to molten metals and living flames, it is critical that clothing be made of materials that will not burn easily, but at the same time permit the body to cool itself.

Heavy canvas smocks, jackets, and gloves, often embedded with basic heat-wards, are common. Insulated boots with fire-resistant coatings cover thick leggings. Goggles and/or masks are used to withstand the glare. When not at work, much of this "working-class" garb is retained - the heavy shirts and leggings are common sights in the various pubs and taverns. This look is often adopted by flamepunks who seek ties with the downtrodden.

Colors are often drab, at least with the protective gear, so many workers wear bold swatches of color to accentuate their appearance - sashes, scarves, or sleeves of bright colors.

===Middle Class===

Dress among the middle classes is more elaborate and of much finer quality. Their exposure to the grime, smoke, and soot of society is less, and they can afford to dress in clothing that is less protective, and more attractive.

Current fashion trends for non-Hadar include high boots with a glossy finish, knee length coats with a bold, martial look, and soft shirts to emphasize their relative leisure compared to the workers. Ironically, there is a trend among certain groups to wear a heavy canvas loincloth-like article, perhaps to maintain a connection to the workers, while still maintaining their elevated stature. Dress for men and women is similar. Colors are bold.

===Upper Class===

With their wealth, the upper classes enjoy a very broad selection, but also suffer from the need to follow trends, which can change very rapidly. However, while clothing trends may change almost daily, the consistently high quality and fine handiwork of the clothing is a sure indicator of upper class status.

In addition to the fashion trends of the day, there are certain guidelines that, for decorum's sake, are followed. Outright nudity or prurient dress is frowned upon in polite circles (although in the privacy of the home - such as privacy is in a world where every flame is a potential gateway for Church surveillance - mores such as this are relaxed). Additionally, items that appear to denigrate the Church are not wise.

Bindstones are incorporated into dozens of different clothing items. A profusion of glittering bindstones is generally the mark of the upper crust.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:Economics]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:29:42Z

Mock: /* Society */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]

==The World and Society==

===The World===

* Geography
* Climate
* Fauna

===Society===

* [[Flamepunk:Economy|Economy]]
* [[Flamepunk:Social Order|Social Order]]
* [[Flamepunk:Etiquette|Etiquette]]

===Technology===

* [[Flamepunk:Flamebinding|Flamebinding]]
* [[Flamepunk:Industry|Industrial Flametech]]

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page|Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_People%2C_Culture_and_Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|The World and Society]]

Flamepunk:Industry

2008-01-30T18:27:58Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]] -> [[Flamepunk:Industry]]

==Heavy Industry==

;Autoforges
:mass production is often performed by semi-sentient, Guild-owned factory complexes that can forge and cast metal products for all manner of applications. Because of the "essential" nature of the realm of flame, autoforges and foundries often have a particular character - weapon forges might feel menacing, dangerous, and bleak, while forges manufacturing precision instruments would feel sterile and exacting.

;Bloodforges
:specialized forging complexes designed to reforge living beings, creating the "mulebloods." Also called fleshpits or "meatsmithys."

==Vehicles==

Aircraft and groundcraft exist (or at least, I think they should). Both sorts of vehicles are commonly called "engines" or "furnaces," and are universally driven by the energy of a flamebonded elemental housed inside the vehicle. Some various vehicles might be the '''War Furnaces''' (immense, fire-driven tanks with char-blackened armor), '''Windsparks''' (light, maneuverable aircraft), or '''Ember Trains''' (so named becuase of the flickering glow that coruscates over the hulls of the massive trains as the elementals envelop them and give them speed).

==Weaponry==

;Hellswords
:Swords with an elemental embedded in the living metal, lending them strength beyond normal levels and perhaps the ability to cut through metals/rocks, and lending additional benefit when flamerunning.

;Firedarts
:Small, commonly concealed pistol-like weapons that launch a cohesive bolt of elemental fire, with a useful range of approximately 50 feet.

;Cauterizers
:A specialized weapon most often seen among Hadar and Guild Burners, cauterizers consist of a pair of gloves that contain long coils of strong wire. When the gloves are touched together, the wires connect and can be drawn out between the hands. These loops can be released at any time (thus allowing the user to free a hand if necessary). Elemental flamebonding enables the wires to superheat, glowing red-white. There is a specific combat form associated with using cauterizers, necessitated by the unusual capabilities of the weapon.

;Pyre guns
:Large rifle-like weapons that project a column of heat (not flame) at a target. They must be held on target for a time to deliver their full effect, but they can start fires, burn flesh, or cut metal if used long enough (they are much like a laser).

;Flamebonded knuckles
:A series of wires and small cores embedded into the burner's knuckles, forming a crisscrossing network. These wires can be raised to a white-hot temperature (the user is insulated from this heat by the elemental's power) and magically hardened by a special type of forge elemental. This means that every strike from the user not only delivers a massive blow, but each blow can sear flesh and set clothing alight.

Flamepunk:Industry

2008-01-30T18:27:18Z

Mock: /* Heavy Industry */

==Heavy Industry==

;Autoforges
:mass production is often performed by semi-sentient, Guild-owned factory complexes that can forge and cast metal products for all manner of applications. Because of the "essential" nature of the realm of flame, autoforges and foundries often have a particular character - weapon forges might feel menacing, dangerous, and bleak, while forges manufacturing precision instruments would feel sterile and exacting.

;Bloodforges
:specialized forging complexes designed to reforge living beings, creating the "mulebloods." Also called fleshpits or "meatsmithys."

==Vehicles==

Aircraft and groundcraft exist (or at least, I think they should). Both sorts of vehicles are commonly called "engines" or "furnaces," and are universally driven by the energy of a flamebonded elemental housed inside the vehicle. Some various vehicles might be the '''War Furnaces''' (immense, fire-driven tanks with char-blackened armor), '''Windsparks''' (light, maneuverable aircraft), or '''Ember Trains''' (so named becuase of the flickering glow that coruscates over the hulls of the massive trains as the elementals envelop them and give them speed).

==Weaponry==

;Hellswords
:Swords with an elemental embedded in the living metal, lending them strength beyond normal levels and perhaps the ability to cut through metals/rocks, and lending additional benefit when flamerunning.

;Firedarts
:Small, commonly concealed pistol-like weapons that launch a cohesive bolt of elemental fire, with a useful range of approximately 50 feet.

;Cauterizers
:A specialized weapon most often seen among Hadar and Guild Burners, cauterizers consist of a pair of gloves that contain long coils of strong wire. When the gloves are touched together, the wires connect and can be drawn out between the hands. These loops can be released at any time (thus allowing the user to free a hand if necessary). Elemental flamebonding enables the wires to superheat, glowing red-white. There is a specific combat form associated with using cauterizers, necessitated by the unusual capabilities of the weapon.

;Pyre guns
:Large rifle-like weapons that project a column of heat (not flame) at a target. They must be held on target for a time to deliver their full effect, but they can start fires, burn flesh, or cut metal if used long enough (they are much like a laser).

;Flamebonded knuckles
:A series of wires and small cores embedded into the burner's knuckles, forming a crisscrossing network. These wires can be raised to a white-hot temperature (the user is insulated from this heat by the elemental's power) and magically hardened by a special type of forge elemental. This means that every strike from the user not only delivers a massive blow, but each blow can sear flesh and set clothing alight.

Flamepunk:Industry

2008-01-30T18:27:00Z

Mock: /* Heavy Industry */

===Heavy Industry===

;Autoforges
:mass production is often performed by semi-sentient, Guild-owned factory complexes that can forge and cast metal products for all manner of applications. Because of the "essential" nature of the realm of flame, autoforges and foundries often have a particular character - weapon forges might feel menacing, dangerous, and bleak, while forges manufacturing precision instruments would feel sterile and exacting.

;Bloodforges
:specialized forging complexes designed to reforge living beings, creating the "mulebloods." Also called fleshpits or "meatsmithys."

==Vehicles==

Aircraft and groundcraft exist (or at least, I think they should). Both sorts of vehicles are commonly called "engines" or "furnaces," and are universally driven by the energy of a flamebonded elemental housed inside the vehicle. Some various vehicles might be the '''War Furnaces''' (immense, fire-driven tanks with char-blackened armor), '''Windsparks''' (light, maneuverable aircraft), or '''Ember Trains''' (so named becuase of the flickering glow that coruscates over the hulls of the massive trains as the elementals envelop them and give them speed).

==Weaponry==

;Hellswords
:Swords with an elemental embedded in the living metal, lending them strength beyond normal levels and perhaps the ability to cut through metals/rocks, and lending additional benefit when flamerunning.

;Firedarts
:Small, commonly concealed pistol-like weapons that launch a cohesive bolt of elemental fire, with a useful range of approximately 50 feet.

;Cauterizers
:A specialized weapon most often seen among Hadar and Guild Burners, cauterizers consist of a pair of gloves that contain long coils of strong wire. When the gloves are touched together, the wires connect and can be drawn out between the hands. These loops can be released at any time (thus allowing the user to free a hand if necessary). Elemental flamebonding enables the wires to superheat, glowing red-white. There is a specific combat form associated with using cauterizers, necessitated by the unusual capabilities of the weapon.

;Pyre guns
:Large rifle-like weapons that project a column of heat (not flame) at a target. They must be held on target for a time to deliver their full effect, but they can start fires, burn flesh, or cut metal if used long enough (they are much like a laser).

;Flamebonded knuckles
:A series of wires and small cores embedded into the burner's knuckles, forming a crisscrossing network. These wires can be raised to a white-hot temperature (the user is insulated from this heat by the elemental's power) and magically hardened by a special type of forge elemental. This means that every strike from the user not only delivers a massive blow, but each blow can sear flesh and set clothing alight.

Flamepunk:Industry

2008-01-30T18:26:38Z

Mock:

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:25:53Z

Mock: /* Industry */

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:25:37Z

Mock: /* Technology */

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:24:56Z

Mock: /* Technology */

Flamepunk:Flamebinding

2008-01-30T18:23:50Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]] -> [[Flamepunk:Flamebinding]]

===Introduction===

The culture and society of (Name of World) centers around one essential act: the control of elemental fire. This has spawned a massive technological infrastructure based entirely on applications of that ability, most importantly the derived technology of flamebinding - the embedding of an elemental flame into an object, which can then later be activated to tap the elemental's power.

There are those who say that this technology - the very heart of (Name of World)-ian society - threatens to bring about the end of the world. They might be right.

But the end of the world is far away, and you've got problems ''right now''.

===How Flamebinding Works===

At its heart each flame-bound effect has a small rune-scribed object as its anchor in our reality: a gem, a small stone or a bit of metal. These are commonly referred to as ''pathstones'' or (in this post anyway) ''cores''. As a side effect of the elemental binding process, using a core can make it very hot, slowly burning (or melting) away the runes, reducing efficiency until the elemental can no longer remain on this plane and the dead core is thrown away. Thus cheaper cores do not last as long, and are not as robust as more expensive, more heat-resistant core material. To make matters worse. If you damage the runes on a core there is the danger of the core spontaneously bursting into flame, thus combusting or exploding, as the confused elemental is released.

For the most part flame-binding is used as a source of energy and light that, unlike real fire, doesn't require the use of fuel (wood, coal, oil). Your house uses a bound ''blaze''-class elemental core (dumb but moderately hot) in the cellar to heat the place and you have a couple of ''glow''-class cores (really small and really dumb) in each room as a source of light.

Fire also works well as a weapon; hellswords, fire-arrows, Molotov-cores (inscribed on glass or ceramic plates so they break and explode when thrown), walking tank ''golem''-class elementals, etc.

Other cores allow the storage of information in an easily portable object; a a ''cipher''-class elemental (small but moderately bright) that creates full-color editable illusions in the air or that can repeat anything they are told to remember perfectly. Faster, though short-lived ''spark''-class elementals (that require no core because of their minutes-long life-span) can track down a specific individual's personal cipher core and perfectly transmit a message to it. Users can see a visible series of sparks actually traveling through the air from sender to recipient as they hold a "talk by post" via an AIM or IRC-style conversation. Guild offices are literally surrounded with clouds of moving sparks, making the cities glow brightly enough to blot out the stars.

Yet more elementals are used for transportation, typically as flaming steeds that pull glowing chariots or carriages with burning wheels through the sky.

Most people simply wear their cores around as jewelry (necklaces, rings and such), or build them into their houses and carriages, the way IRL people carry cellular phones and handguns, but these cores have the disadvantage of having to be spoken to, and they tend to take their orders very literally.

However, there are those who actually risk the danger of combustion to add the flame to their very flesh. These fire-eaters are easily identified by the flame-binding tattoos they require to bind the flames to their will, turning them into walking cores. These enhancements typically cost more than most people make in a year, however the elementals thus tied into a fire-eater's very being respond to their thoughts and emotions. Most enhancements increase an attribute in some way: muscle-burn, explosive-speed, plasma-plating; however, others work as built-in weapons (knuckle-dusters), protective measures (smokers-lung) or as sensory enhancement (dark-fire). The major danger of a flame-tattoo is if the scribed runes are damaged their bodies may overheat and combust the way any broken core would.

''Flame-speakers'' are those who, through study and natural skill, can force the elemental fire into the pattern they desire. Flame-speakers are the ones who have truly plumbed the mysteries of elemental flame and can accurately speak its language. Depending on their skill spread they can scribe a new flame-bound core, emplace tattoos on a prospective fire-eaters, or repair a damaged or malfunctioning core.

However, the best speakers are able to actually become one with the flame for a short time. Called ''flame-runners'', they have the ability to bend the core of an unwilling elemental to do their bidding. Flame-runners can trick sparks into repeating their messages to the wrong cipher, they can beguile a cipher into believing the flame-runner is its bound owner, and they can even temporarily entrance a golem into ignoring potential targets.

===Pages related to this topic===

[[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]

[[Flamepunk:Flamerunning]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk:Flamebinding

2008-01-30T18:21:38Z

Mock:

===Introduction===

The culture and society of (Name of World) centers around one essential act: the control of elemental fire. This has spawned a massive technological infrastructure based entirely on applications of that ability, most importantly the derived technology of flamebinding - the embedding of an elemental flame into an object, which can then later be activated to tap the elemental's power.

There are those who say that this technology - the very heart of (Name of World)-ian society - threatens to bring about the end of the world. They might be right.

But the end of the world is far away, and you've got problems ''right now''.

===How Flamebinding Works===

At its heart each flame-bound effect has a small rune-scribed object as its anchor in our reality: a gem, a small stone or a bit of metal. These are commonly referred to as ''pathstones'' or (in this post anyway) ''cores''. As a side effect of the elemental binding process, using a core can make it very hot, slowly burning (or melting) away the runes, reducing efficiency until the elemental can no longer remain on this plane and the dead core is thrown away. Thus cheaper cores do not last as long, and are not as robust as more expensive, more heat-resistant core material. To make matters worse. If you damage the runes on a core there is the danger of the core spontaneously bursting into flame, thus combusting or exploding, as the confused elemental is released.

For the most part flame-binding is used as a source of energy and light that, unlike real fire, doesn't require the use of fuel (wood, coal, oil). Your house uses a bound ''blaze''-class elemental core (dumb but moderately hot) in the cellar to heat the place and you have a couple of ''glow''-class cores (really small and really dumb) in each room as a source of light.

Fire also works well as a weapon; hellswords, fire-arrows, Molotov-cores (inscribed on glass or ceramic plates so they break and explode when thrown), walking tank ''golem''-class elementals, etc.

Other cores allow the storage of information in an easily portable object; a a ''cipher''-class elemental (small but moderately bright) that creates full-color editable illusions in the air or that can repeat anything they are told to remember perfectly. Faster, though short-lived ''spark''-class elementals (that require no core because of their minutes-long life-span) can track down a specific individual's personal cipher core and perfectly transmit a message to it. Users can see a visible series of sparks actually traveling through the air from sender to recipient as they hold a "talk by post" via an AIM or IRC-style conversation. Guild offices are literally surrounded with clouds of moving sparks, making the cities glow brightly enough to blot out the stars.

Yet more elementals are used for transportation, typically as flaming steeds that pull glowing chariots or carriages with burning wheels through the sky.

Most people simply wear their cores around as jewelry (necklaces, rings and such), or build them into their houses and carriages, the way IRL people carry cellular phones and handguns, but these cores have the disadvantage of having to be spoken to, and they tend to take their orders very literally.

However, there are those who actually risk the danger of combustion to add the flame to their very flesh. These fire-eaters are easily identified by the flame-binding tattoos they require to bind the flames to their will, turning them into walking cores. These enhancements typically cost more than most people make in a year, however the elementals thus tied into a fire-eater's very being respond to their thoughts and emotions. Most enhancements increase an attribute in some way: muscle-burn, explosive-speed, plasma-plating; however, others work as built-in weapons (knuckle-dusters), protective measures (smokers-lung) or as sensory enhancement (dark-fire). The major danger of a flame-tattoo is if the scribed runes are damaged their bodies may overheat and combust the way any broken core would.

''Flame-speakers'' are those who, through study and natural skill, can force the elemental fire into the pattern they desire. Flame-speakers are the ones who have truly plumbed the mysteries of elemental flame and can accurately speak its language. Depending on their skill spread they can scribe a new flame-bound core, emplace tattoos on a prospective fire-eaters, or repair a damaged or malfunctioning core.

However, the best speakers are able to actually become one with the flame for a short time. Called ''flame-runners'', they have the ability to bend the core of an unwilling elemental to do their bidding. Flame-runners can trick sparks into repeating their messages to the wrong cipher, they can beguile a cipher into believing the flame-runner is its bound owner, and they can even temporarily entrance a golem into ignoring potential targets.

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:20:35Z

Mock: /* Technology */

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:20:16Z

Mock: /* Technology */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]

==The World and Society==

===The World===

* Geography
* Climate
* Fauna

===Society===

* Economy
* Social Order
* Etiquette

===Technology===

* [[Flamepunk:Flamebinding|Flamebinding]]
* [[Flamepunk:Flamerunning|Flamerunning]]

The culture and society of (Name of World) centers around one essential act: the control of elemental fire. This has spawned a massive technological infrastructure based entirely on applications of that ability, most importantly the derived technology of flamebinding - the embedding of an elemental flame into an object, which can then later be activated to tap the elemental's power.

There are those who say that this technolgoy - the very heart of (Name of World)-ian society - threatens to bring about the end of the world. They might be right.

But the end of the world is far away, and you've got problems ''right now''.

====How it works====

Compiled by Mock; originally posted by Daneel

At its heart each flame-bound effect has a small rune-scribed object as its anchor in our reality: a gem, a small stone or a bit of metal. These are commonly referred to as ''pathstones'' or (in this post anyway) ''cores''. As a side effect of the elemental binding process, using a core can make it very hot, slowly burning (or melting) away the runes, reducing efficiency until the elemental can no longer remain on this plane and the dead core is thrown away. Thus cheaper cores do not last as long, and are not as robust as more expensive, more heat-resistant core material. To make matters worse. If you damage the runes on a core there is the danger of the core spontaneously bursting into flame, thus combusting or exploding, as the confused elemental is released.

For the most part flame-binding is used as a source of energy and light that, unlike real fire, doesn't require the use of fuel (wood, coal, oil). Your house uses a bound ''blaze''-class elemental core (dumb but moderately hot) in the cellar to heat the place and you have a couple of ''glow''-class cores (really small and really dumb) in each room as a source of light.

Fire also works well as a weapon; hellswords, fire-arrows, Molotov-cores (inscribed on glass or ceramic plates so they break and explode when thrown), walking tank ''golem''-class elementals, etc.

Other cores allow the storage of information in an easily portable object; a a ''cipher''-class elemental (small but moderately bright) that creates full-color editable illusions in the air or that can repeat anything they are told to remember perfectly. Faster, though short-lived ''spark''-class elementals (that require no core because of their minutes-long life-span) can track down a specific individual's personal cipher core and perfectly transmit a message to it. Users can see a visible series of sparks actually traveling through the air from sender to recipient as they hold a "talk by post" via an AIM or IRC-style conversation. Guild offices are literally surrounded with clouds of moving sparks, making the cities glow brightly enough to blot out the stars.

Yet more elementals are used for transportation, typically as flaming steeds that pull glowing chariots or carriages with burning wheels through the sky.

Most people simply wear their cores around as jewelry (necklaces, rings and such), or build them into their houses and carriages, the way IRL people carry cellular phones and handguns, but these cores have the disadvantage of having to be spoken to, and they tend to take their orders very literally.

However, there are those who actually risk the danger of combustion to add the flame to their very flesh. These fire-eaters are easily identified by the flame-binding tattoos they require to bind the flames to their will, turning them into walking cores. These enhancements typically cost more than most people make in a year, however the elementals thus tied into a fire-eater's very being respond to their thoughts and emotions. Most enhancements increase an attribute in some way: muscle-burn, explosive-speed, plasma-plating; however, others work as built-in weapons (knuckle-dusters), protective measures (smokers-lung) or as sensory enhancement (dark-fire). The major danger of a flame-tattoo is if the scribed runes are damaged their bodies may overheat and combust the way any broken core would.

''Flame-speakers'' are those who, through study and natural skill, can force the elemental fire into the pattern they desire. Flame-speakers are the ones who have truly plumbed the mysteries of elemental flame and can accurately speak its language. Depending on their skill spread they can scribe a new flame-bound core, emplace tattoos on a prospective fire-eaters, or repair a damaged or malfunctioning core.

However, the best speakers are able to actually become one with the flame for a short time. Called ''flame-runners'', they have the ability to bend the core of an unwilling elemental to do their bidding. Flame-runners can trick sparks into repeating their messages to the wrong cipher, they can beguile a cipher into believing the flame-runner is its bound owner, and they can even temporarily entrance a golem into ignoring potential targets.

===Industry===

;Autoforges
:mass production is often performed by semi-sentient, Guild-owned factory complexes that can forge and cast metal products for all manner of applications. Because of the "essential" nature of the realm of flame, autoforges and foundries often have a particular character - weapon forges might feel menacing, dangerous, and bleak, while forges manufacturing precision instruments would feel sterile and exacting.

;Bloodforges
:specialized forging complexes designed to reforge living beings, creating the "mulebloods." Also called fleshpits or "meatsmithys."

====Vehicles====

Aircraft and groundcraft exist (or at least, I think they should). Both sorts of vehicles are commonly called "engines" or "furnaces," and are universally driven by the energy of a flamebonded elemental housed inside the vehicle. Some various vehicles might be the '''War Furnaces''' (immense, fire-driven tanks with char-blackened armor), '''Windsparks''' (light, maneuverable aircraft), or '''Ember Trains''' (so named becuase of the flickering glow that coruscates over the hulls of the massive trains as the elementals envelop them and give them speed).

====Weaponry====

;Hellswords
:Swords with an elemental embedded in the living metal, lending them strength beyond normal levels and perhaps the ability to cut through metals/rocks, and lending additional benefit when flamerunning.

;Firedarts
:Small, commonly concealed pistol-like weapons that launch a cohesive bolt of elemental fire, with a useful range of approximately 50 feet.

;Cauterizers
:A specialized weapon most often seen among Hadar and Guild Burners, cauterizers consist of a pair of gloves that contain long coils of strong wire. When the gloves are touched together, the wires connect and can be drawn out between the hands. These loops can be released at any time (thus allowing the user to free a hand if necessary). Elemental flamebonding enables the wires to superheat, glowing red-white. There is a specific combat form associated with using cauterizers, necessitated by the unusual capabilities of the weapon.

;Pyre guns
:Large rifle-like weapons that project a column of heat (not flame) at a target. They must be held on target for a time to deliver their full effect, but they can start fires, burn flesh, or cut metal if used long enough (they are much like a laser).

;Flamebonded knuckles
:A series of wires and small cores embedded into the burner's knuckles, forming a crisscrossing network. These wires can be raised to a white-hot temperature (the user is insulated from this heat by the elemental's power) and magically hardened by a special type of forge elemental. This means that every strike from the user not only delivers a massive blow, but each blow can sear flesh and set clothing alight.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page|Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_People%2C_Culture_and_Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|The World and Society]]

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:18:44Z

Mock: /* Technology */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]

==The World and Society==

===The World===

* Geography
* Climate
* Fauna

===Society===

* Economy
* Social Order
* Etiquette

===Technology===

* Flamebinding
* Flamerunning

The culture and society of (Name of World) centers around one essential act: the control of elemental fire. This has spawned a massive technological infrastructure based entirely on applications of that ability, most importantly the derived technology of flamebinding - the embedding of an elemental flame into an object, which can then later be activated to tap the elemental's power.

There are those who say that this technolgoy - the very heart of (Name of World)-ian society - threatens to bring about the end of the world. They might be right.

But the end of the world is far away, and you've got problems ''right now''.

====How it works====

Compiled by Mock; originally posted by Daneel

At its heart each flame-bound effect has a small rune-scribed object as its anchor in our reality: a gem, a small stone or a bit of metal. These are commonly referred to as ''pathstones'' or (in this post anyway) ''cores''. As a side effect of the elemental binding process, using a core can make it very hot, slowly burning (or melting) away the runes, reducing efficiency until the elemental can no longer remain on this plane and the dead core is thrown away. Thus cheaper cores do not last as long, and are not as robust as more expensive, more heat-resistant core material. To make matters worse. If you damage the runes on a core there is the danger of the core spontaneously bursting into flame, thus combusting or exploding, as the confused elemental is released.

For the most part flame-binding is used as a source of energy and light that, unlike real fire, doesn't require the use of fuel (wood, coal, oil). Your house uses a bound ''blaze''-class elemental core (dumb but moderately hot) in the cellar to heat the place and you have a couple of ''glow''-class cores (really small and really dumb) in each room as a source of light.

Fire also works well as a weapon; hellswords, fire-arrows, Molotov-cores (inscribed on glass or ceramic plates so they break and explode when thrown), walking tank ''golem''-class elementals, etc.

Other cores allow the storage of information in an easily portable object; a a ''cipher''-class elemental (small but moderately bright) that creates full-color editable illusions in the air or that can repeat anything they are told to remember perfectly. Faster, though short-lived ''spark''-class elementals (that require no core because of their minutes-long life-span) can track down a specific individual's personal cipher core and perfectly transmit a message to it. Users can see a visible series of sparks actually traveling through the air from sender to recipient as they hold a "talk by post" via an AIM or IRC-style conversation. Guild offices are literally surrounded with clouds of moving sparks, making the cities glow brightly enough to blot out the stars.

Yet more elementals are used for transportation, typically as flaming steeds that pull glowing chariots or carriages with burning wheels through the sky.

Most people simply wear their cores around as jewelry (necklaces, rings and such), or build them into their houses and carriages, the way IRL people carry cellular phones and handguns, but these cores have the disadvantage of having to be spoken to, and they tend to take their orders very literally.

However, there are those who actually risk the danger of combustion to add the flame to their very flesh. These fire-eaters are easily identified by the flame-binding tattoos they require to bind the flames to their will, turning them into walking cores. These enhancements typically cost more than most people make in a year, however the elementals thus tied into a fire-eater's very being respond to their thoughts and emotions. Most enhancements increase an attribute in some way: muscle-burn, explosive-speed, plasma-plating; however, others work as built-in weapons (knuckle-dusters), protective measures (smokers-lung) or as sensory enhancement (dark-fire). The major danger of a flame-tattoo is if the scribed runes are damaged their bodies may overheat and combust the way any broken core would.

''Flame-speakers'' are those who, through study and natural skill, can force the elemental fire into the pattern they desire. Flame-speakers are the ones who have truly plumbed the mysteries of elemental flame and can accurately speak its language. Depending on their skill spread they can scribe a new flame-bound core, emplace tattoos on a prospective fire-eaters, or repair a damaged or malfunctioning core.

However, the best speakers are able to actually become one with the flame for a short time. Called ''flame-runners'', they have the ability to bend the core of an unwilling elemental to do their bidding. Flame-runners can trick sparks into repeating their messages to the wrong cipher, they can beguile a cipher into believing the flame-runner is its bound owner, and they can even temporarily entrance a golem into ignoring potential targets.

===Industry===

;Autoforges
:mass production is often performed by semi-sentient, Guild-owned factory complexes that can forge and cast metal products for all manner of applications. Because of the "essential" nature of the realm of flame, autoforges and foundries often have a particular character - weapon forges might feel menacing, dangerous, and bleak, while forges manufacturing precision instruments would feel sterile and exacting.

;Bloodforges
:specialized forging complexes designed to reforge living beings, creating the "mulebloods." Also called fleshpits or "meatsmithys."

====Vehicles====

Aircraft and groundcraft exist (or at least, I think they should). Both sorts of vehicles are commonly called "engines" or "furnaces," and are universally driven by the energy of a flamebonded elemental housed inside the vehicle. Some various vehicles might be the '''War Furnaces''' (immense, fire-driven tanks with char-blackened armor), '''Windsparks''' (light, maneuverable aircraft), or '''Ember Trains''' (so named becuase of the flickering glow that coruscates over the hulls of the massive trains as the elementals envelop them and give them speed).

====Weaponry====

;Hellswords
:Swords with an elemental embedded in the living metal, lending them strength beyond normal levels and perhaps the ability to cut through metals/rocks, and lending additional benefit when flamerunning.

;Firedarts
:Small, commonly concealed pistol-like weapons that launch a cohesive bolt of elemental fire, with a useful range of approximately 50 feet.

;Cauterizers
:A specialized weapon most often seen among Hadar and Guild Burners, cauterizers consist of a pair of gloves that contain long coils of strong wire. When the gloves are touched together, the wires connect and can be drawn out between the hands. These loops can be released at any time (thus allowing the user to free a hand if necessary). Elemental flamebonding enables the wires to superheat, glowing red-white. There is a specific combat form associated with using cauterizers, necessitated by the unusual capabilities of the weapon.

;Pyre guns
:Large rifle-like weapons that project a column of heat (not flame) at a target. They must be held on target for a time to deliver their full effect, but they can start fires, burn flesh, or cut metal if used long enough (they are much like a laser).

;Flamebonded knuckles
:A series of wires and small cores embedded into the burner's knuckles, forming a crisscrossing network. These wires can be raised to a white-hot temperature (the user is insulated from this heat by the elemental's power) and magically hardened by a special type of forge elemental. This means that every strike from the user not only delivers a massive blow, but each blow can sear flesh and set clothing alight.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page|Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_People%2C_Culture_and_Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|The World and Society]]

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:17:54Z

Mock: /* Society */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]

==The World and Society==

===The World===

* Geography
* Climate
* Fauna

===Society===

* Economy
* Social Order
* Etiquette

===Technology===

The culture and society of (Name of World) centers around one essential act: the control of elemental fire. This has spawned a massive technological infrastructure based entirely on applications of that ability, most importantly the derived technology of flamebinding - the embedding of an elemental flame into an object, which can then later be activated to tap the elemental's power.

There are those who say that this technolgoy - the very heart of (Name of World)-ian society - threatens to bring about the end of the world. They might be right.

But the end of the world is far away, and you've got problems ''right now''.

====How it works====

Compiled by Mock; originally posted by Daneel

At its heart each flame-bound effect has a small rune-scribed object as its anchor in our reality: a gem, a small stone or a bit of metal. These are commonly referred to as ''pathstones'' or (in this post anyway) ''cores''. As a side effect of the elemental binding process, using a core can make it very hot, slowly burning (or melting) away the runes, reducing efficiency until the elemental can no longer remain on this plane and the dead core is thrown away. Thus cheaper cores do not last as long, and are not as robust as more expensive, more heat-resistant core material. To make matters worse. If you damage the runes on a core there is the danger of the core spontaneously bursting into flame, thus combusting or exploding, as the confused elemental is released.

For the most part flame-binding is used as a source of energy and light that, unlike real fire, doesn't require the use of fuel (wood, coal, oil). Your house uses a bound ''blaze''-class elemental core (dumb but moderately hot) in the cellar to heat the place and you have a couple of ''glow''-class cores (really small and really dumb) in each room as a source of light.

Fire also works well as a weapon; hellswords, fire-arrows, Molotov-cores (inscribed on glass or ceramic plates so they break and explode when thrown), walking tank ''golem''-class elementals, etc.

Other cores allow the storage of information in an easily portable object; a a ''cipher''-class elemental (small but moderately bright) that creates full-color editable illusions in the air or that can repeat anything they are told to remember perfectly. Faster, though short-lived ''spark''-class elementals (that require no core because of their minutes-long life-span) can track down a specific individual's personal cipher core and perfectly transmit a message to it. Users can see a visible series of sparks actually traveling through the air from sender to recipient as they hold a "talk by post" via an AIM or IRC-style conversation. Guild offices are literally surrounded with clouds of moving sparks, making the cities glow brightly enough to blot out the stars.

Yet more elementals are used for transportation, typically as flaming steeds that pull glowing chariots or carriages with burning wheels through the sky.

Most people simply wear their cores around as jewelry (necklaces, rings and such), or build them into their houses and carriages, the way IRL people carry cellular phones and handguns, but these cores have the disadvantage of having to be spoken to, and they tend to take their orders very literally.

However, there are those who actually risk the danger of combustion to add the flame to their very flesh. These fire-eaters are easily identified by the flame-binding tattoos they require to bind the flames to their will, turning them into walking cores. These enhancements typically cost more than most people make in a year, however the elementals thus tied into a fire-eater's very being respond to their thoughts and emotions. Most enhancements increase an attribute in some way: muscle-burn, explosive-speed, plasma-plating; however, others work as built-in weapons (knuckle-dusters), protective measures (smokers-lung) or as sensory enhancement (dark-fire). The major danger of a flame-tattoo is if the scribed runes are damaged their bodies may overheat and combust the way any broken core would.

''Flame-speakers'' are those who, through study and natural skill, can force the elemental fire into the pattern they desire. Flame-speakers are the ones who have truly plumbed the mysteries of elemental flame and can accurately speak its language. Depending on their skill spread they can scribe a new flame-bound core, emplace tattoos on a prospective fire-eaters, or repair a damaged or malfunctioning core.

However, the best speakers are able to actually become one with the flame for a short time. Called ''flame-runners'', they have the ability to bend the core of an unwilling elemental to do their bidding. Flame-runners can trick sparks into repeating their messages to the wrong cipher, they can beguile a cipher into believing the flame-runner is its bound owner, and they can even temporarily entrance a golem into ignoring potential targets.

===Industry===

;Autoforges
:mass production is often performed by semi-sentient, Guild-owned factory complexes that can forge and cast metal products for all manner of applications. Because of the "essential" nature of the realm of flame, autoforges and foundries often have a particular character - weapon forges might feel menacing, dangerous, and bleak, while forges manufacturing precision instruments would feel sterile and exacting.

;Bloodforges
:specialized forging complexes designed to reforge living beings, creating the "mulebloods." Also called fleshpits or "meatsmithys."

====Vehicles====

Aircraft and groundcraft exist (or at least, I think they should). Both sorts of vehicles are commonly called "engines" or "furnaces," and are universally driven by the energy of a flamebonded elemental housed inside the vehicle. Some various vehicles might be the '''War Furnaces''' (immense, fire-driven tanks with char-blackened armor), '''Windsparks''' (light, maneuverable aircraft), or '''Ember Trains''' (so named becuase of the flickering glow that coruscates over the hulls of the massive trains as the elementals envelop them and give them speed).

====Weaponry====

;Hellswords
:Swords with an elemental embedded in the living metal, lending them strength beyond normal levels and perhaps the ability to cut through metals/rocks, and lending additional benefit when flamerunning.

;Firedarts
:Small, commonly concealed pistol-like weapons that launch a cohesive bolt of elemental fire, with a useful range of approximately 50 feet.

;Cauterizers
:A specialized weapon most often seen among Hadar and Guild Burners, cauterizers consist of a pair of gloves that contain long coils of strong wire. When the gloves are touched together, the wires connect and can be drawn out between the hands. These loops can be released at any time (thus allowing the user to free a hand if necessary). Elemental flamebonding enables the wires to superheat, glowing red-white. There is a specific combat form associated with using cauterizers, necessitated by the unusual capabilities of the weapon.

;Pyre guns
:Large rifle-like weapons that project a column of heat (not flame) at a target. They must be held on target for a time to deliver their full effect, but they can start fires, burn flesh, or cut metal if used long enough (they are much like a laser).

;Flamebonded knuckles
:A series of wires and small cores embedded into the burner's knuckles, forming a crisscrossing network. These wires can be raised to a white-hot temperature (the user is insulated from this heat by the elemental's power) and magically hardened by a special type of forge elemental. This means that every strike from the user not only delivers a massive blow, but each blow can sear flesh and set clothing alight.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page|Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_People%2C_Culture_and_Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|The World and Society]]

Flamepunk: The World and Society

2008-01-30T18:17:02Z

Mock: /* The World */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: The World and Society]]

==The World and Society==

===The World===

* Geography
* Climate
* Fauna

===Society===

===Technology===

The culture and society of (Name of World) centers around one essential act: the control of elemental fire. This has spawned a massive technological infrastructure based entirely on applications of that ability, most importantly the derived technology of flamebinding - the embedding of an elemental flame into an object, which can then later be activated to tap the elemental's power.

There are those who say that this technolgoy - the very heart of (Name of World)-ian society - threatens to bring about the end of the world. They might be right.

But the end of the world is far away, and you've got problems ''right now''.

====How it works====

Compiled by Mock; originally posted by Daneel

At its heart each flame-bound effect has a small rune-scribed object as its anchor in our reality: a gem, a small stone or a bit of metal. These are commonly referred to as ''pathstones'' or (in this post anyway) ''cores''. As a side effect of the elemental binding process, using a core can make it very hot, slowly burning (or melting) away the runes, reducing efficiency until the elemental can no longer remain on this plane and the dead core is thrown away. Thus cheaper cores do not last as long, and are not as robust as more expensive, more heat-resistant core material. To make matters worse. If you damage the runes on a core there is the danger of the core spontaneously bursting into flame, thus combusting or exploding, as the confused elemental is released.

For the most part flame-binding is used as a source of energy and light that, unlike real fire, doesn't require the use of fuel (wood, coal, oil). Your house uses a bound ''blaze''-class elemental core (dumb but moderately hot) in the cellar to heat the place and you have a couple of ''glow''-class cores (really small and really dumb) in each room as a source of light.

Fire also works well as a weapon; hellswords, fire-arrows, Molotov-cores (inscribed on glass or ceramic plates so they break and explode when thrown), walking tank ''golem''-class elementals, etc.

Other cores allow the storage of information in an easily portable object; a a ''cipher''-class elemental (small but moderately bright) that creates full-color editable illusions in the air or that can repeat anything they are told to remember perfectly. Faster, though short-lived ''spark''-class elementals (that require no core because of their minutes-long life-span) can track down a specific individual's personal cipher core and perfectly transmit a message to it. Users can see a visible series of sparks actually traveling through the air from sender to recipient as they hold a "talk by post" via an AIM or IRC-style conversation. Guild offices are literally surrounded with clouds of moving sparks, making the cities glow brightly enough to blot out the stars.

Yet more elementals are used for transportation, typically as flaming steeds that pull glowing chariots or carriages with burning wheels through the sky.

Most people simply wear their cores around as jewelry (necklaces, rings and such), or build them into their houses and carriages, the way IRL people carry cellular phones and handguns, but these cores have the disadvantage of having to be spoken to, and they tend to take their orders very literally.

However, there are those who actually risk the danger of combustion to add the flame to their very flesh. These fire-eaters are easily identified by the flame-binding tattoos they require to bind the flames to their will, turning them into walking cores. These enhancements typically cost more than most people make in a year, however the elementals thus tied into a fire-eater's very being respond to their thoughts and emotions. Most enhancements increase an attribute in some way: muscle-burn, explosive-speed, plasma-plating; however, others work as built-in weapons (knuckle-dusters), protective measures (smokers-lung) or as sensory enhancement (dark-fire). The major danger of a flame-tattoo is if the scribed runes are damaged their bodies may overheat and combust the way any broken core would.

''Flame-speakers'' are those who, through study and natural skill, can force the elemental fire into the pattern they desire. Flame-speakers are the ones who have truly plumbed the mysteries of elemental flame and can accurately speak its language. Depending on their skill spread they can scribe a new flame-bound core, emplace tattoos on a prospective fire-eaters, or repair a damaged or malfunctioning core.

However, the best speakers are able to actually become one with the flame for a short time. Called ''flame-runners'', they have the ability to bend the core of an unwilling elemental to do their bidding. Flame-runners can trick sparks into repeating their messages to the wrong cipher, they can beguile a cipher into believing the flame-runner is its bound owner, and they can even temporarily entrance a golem into ignoring potential targets.

===Industry===

;Autoforges
:mass production is often performed by semi-sentient, Guild-owned factory complexes that can forge and cast metal products for all manner of applications. Because of the "essential" nature of the realm of flame, autoforges and foundries often have a particular character - weapon forges might feel menacing, dangerous, and bleak, while forges manufacturing precision instruments would feel sterile and exacting.

;Bloodforges
:specialized forging complexes designed to reforge living beings, creating the "mulebloods." Also called fleshpits or "meatsmithys."

====Vehicles====

Aircraft and groundcraft exist (or at least, I think they should). Both sorts of vehicles are commonly called "engines" or "furnaces," and are universally driven by the energy of a flamebonded elemental housed inside the vehicle. Some various vehicles might be the '''War Furnaces''' (immense, fire-driven tanks with char-blackened armor), '''Windsparks''' (light, maneuverable aircraft), or '''Ember Trains''' (so named becuase of the flickering glow that coruscates over the hulls of the massive trains as the elementals envelop them and give them speed).

====Weaponry====

;Hellswords
:Swords with an elemental embedded in the living metal, lending them strength beyond normal levels and perhaps the ability to cut through metals/rocks, and lending additional benefit when flamerunning.

;Firedarts
:Small, commonly concealed pistol-like weapons that launch a cohesive bolt of elemental fire, with a useful range of approximately 50 feet.

;Cauterizers
:A specialized weapon most often seen among Hadar and Guild Burners, cauterizers consist of a pair of gloves that contain long coils of strong wire. When the gloves are touched together, the wires connect and can be drawn out between the hands. These loops can be released at any time (thus allowing the user to free a hand if necessary). Elemental flamebonding enables the wires to superheat, glowing red-white. There is a specific combat form associated with using cauterizers, necessitated by the unusual capabilities of the weapon.

;Pyre guns
:Large rifle-like weapons that project a column of heat (not flame) at a target. They must be held on target for a time to deliver their full effect, but they can start fires, burn flesh, or cut metal if used long enough (they are much like a laser).

;Flamebonded knuckles
:A series of wires and small cores embedded into the burner's knuckles, forming a crisscrossing network. These wires can be raised to a white-hot temperature (the user is insulated from this heat by the elemental's power) and magically hardened by a special type of forge elemental. This means that every strike from the user not only delivers a massive blow, but each blow can sear flesh and set clothing alight.

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page|Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_People%2C_Culture_and_Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]

[[Category:Flamepunk|The World and Society]]

File:Fp burner small.jpg

2008-01-30T13:50:03Z

Mock: Concept art for the Flamepunk project.

Concept art for the Flamepunk project.

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-19T02:37:26Z

Mock: /* Glossary */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture==

===Language===

====Glossary====

A host of fire-related slang terms has grown with the burgeoning ranks of flamerunners and dispossessed street punks that fill the cities of (Name of World).

Glossary:

;Ash
:Excrement, offal (or, more generally, undesirable). Ash is what's left behind after a fire, and its use to mean "shit" was a natural development.

;Binder
:General term for someone who can bind elemental flame.

;Blazer
:Street slang for a person who can enter ''flamespace''. Also sometimes used as a synonym for ''burner'' (see below).

;Brands
:Firebrands (actually a form of tattoing) used to augment the body.

;Brass
:One of the more common metals used to form flamerunning equipment, brass is used generally to mean "high-end, fancy equipment."

;Burn
:Fight. Also used the sense of "get it on," "get going," or "let's roll."

;Burner
:Slang term for street tough, figher, or hired muscle. Generally considered a catch-all epithet for a buddy or companion.

;Family
:A member of the Hadar, e.g. '''"Stay away from that blazer. He's Family."''

;Flamespace
:The realm of flames, where physical reality is broken down to its elemental essences. This is the playground of the ''flamerunners''.

;Icepit
:A place where the spark (see below) is chronically absent; a boring place. An uncool (in the sense of popular) location.

;Muleblood
: In the brutally hot bloodforges, fleshshapers use the power of the Flame Realm to melt and reshape the flesh of men, turning them into...something else. They are reforged into an amalgam of flesh, metal and fire. These fearful creatures are called, in common parlance, '''mulebloods'''. Fleshshapers tend to refer to them as the "reforged," however.

;Snuff
:Derisive term for a chump, or a loser, someone whose spark is weak. ''"You want a piece of this, snuff? Come on then, let's burn." Also '''gutter'''.

;Spark
:Slang for firebonding or other fire magic, and the frequently visual side effects of the same. Typically, used to indicate the presence or absence of interesting stuff going on, e.g., ''Let's get outta here, burner. There's no spark in this icepit."

==Factions==

===Major Factions===

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

====[[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]====

Massive corporate conglomerates with a tight grip on the throat of the (Name of World) economy.

====[[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]====

A sprawling religious bureaucracy that appeases the people while perpetuating the use of flamebinding magic.

====[[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]====

Powerful families and clans woven together by a web of debts, marriages, and contracts going back thousands of years, the Hadar are involved in enterprises both legitimate and criminal.

===Minor Factions===

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk: The Hadar Families

2008-01-19T02:32:52Z

Mock: /* Hadar Organization */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families]]

==The Hadar==

The Hadar are a loose confederation of crime families whose power rivals that of the Guilds. With fingers in every pie and at every level of society, they are dealers in sin and blood without equal. The Hadar tattoo themselves with images of black flames; it is whispered that they have made pacts with dark elemental lords, who grant them the power to douse flames and shatter lights.

"The Hadar" is the collective name for a group of powerful families who are one of the supreme military forces on (Name of World). The Hadar are involved in society at many levels, and find themselves coming into conflict with the Church and the Guilds. Hadar enterprises are frequently street-level, but they are by no means "common crooks" or unsophisticated thugs.

==Hadar Culture==

===Honor among the Hadar===

There is a saying that there is no honor among thieves, but rest assured this quaint idiom would be entirely foreign to the Hadar.

The central pillars of Hadar belief is honor, known as ''ird'' (for women) and ''sharaf'' (for men). There are distinctions between these two, most notably the fact that a woman's ''ird'', once lost, can never be regained. Since women own all property within Hadar society, as long as their ''ird'' is intact, the loss of ''ird'' can pitch an entire family group onto the street. By contrast, a man's ''sharaf'' can be lost and regained. In both cases, Hadar's honor is her unquestioned word and unimpeachable integrity, the promise that when she says a thing will be done, it is done.

Honor is so essential to the way of Hadar life that no insult is greater than impugning the honor of another Hadar. In a sense, the denigration of one's honor is worse than murder: a Hadar without honor is no Hadar, and when his flame goes out, he will be spat upon by his mother and sisters, and forgotten.

On the other hand, the Hadar rarely expect non-Hadar to understand, much less adhere to, their unique code. The word of an outsider is worth only as much as they can provide to back it up. It is the rare person who has earned the respect of a Hadar to the point that their word is good enough.

===Conflicts of Honor===

Since Hadar families are often in conflict with each other, it is inevitable that one Hadar will insult the honor of another. In most cases, questions of honor are settled in the old-fashioned way, by fists, feet, and blades. A savage beating, or even a murder, is by no means an unusual event among the Hadar.

The problem with such a rigid code of honor is that such exchanges, between two individuals, can quickly cascade into a blood feud between Families. The Hadar have, over the millennia, recognized that it was not always in the best interest of the Families to allow such endless feuding to continue to the detriment of the Hadar people. Avenging one's honor is one thing, but to act like blood-crazed savages is unbecoming. Thus, for those Hadar who seek it - or are forced to seek it by family - there exist a set of traditions and customs to resolve disputes and questions of honor among the Families.

Such arbitrations are handled by Family elders, and their word is law. If both parties accept the final ruling of the elders, then the conflict is over. However, it is the right of the parties to the dispute to singly or together refuse to accept a ruling from the elders. In such a case, the parties must undergo a trial. This trial may be an ordeal - usually painful, such as the ''bisha'a'' lie detection test - that both parties must undergo and be judged on; it may be a formal trial wherein witnesses and testimony are presented; or, in some cases, it is a simple duel. The most painful ordeals and duels are reserved for the most grievous conflicts.

==Hadar Organization==

Though individual Hadar may operate independently while engaging in their criminal enterprises, the structure of the Hadar society is as follows.

===The Families===

The true power behind the Hadar, and the feudal lords of all who serve them. Some Families are truly caring for their communities, while others seek only power and influence. The Families are interlinked by a byzantine web of contracts, marriages, and debts, and so rarely go to war against each other. It is not uncommon for Family members to hold ranks in the Guilds or in the Church, allowing Hadar influence a foothold in those organizations.

Families are organized into a hierarchy.

;''Bayt''
: The smallest family unit is the ''bayt'', or "tent," harkening back to the Hadar's days as a nomadic culture. In the past, a Tent might be a few adults and children, but at this time, a Tent can be a rather large or extended family. In all cases, however, the Tent has a matriarch heading the family.

;''Goum''
: This is an extended grouping of ''bayts'' linked together by marriage or common ancestry.

;''Ibn amm''
: These are also known as "descent groups," and are formed by the 3 to 5 generations of cousins, nieces, and nephews of a ''goum''.

===Hadar Shadows===

The Hadar Shadows are expertly-trained warriors who specialize in the use of smokecraft to accomplish their goals. They can bend smoke to their will, using it to create confusion, poison their enemies, and extinguish flame-based weaponry.

===Hadar Ashwalkers===

<blockquote>''"You must be talking about the Ashwalkers, what they call their Hadarram. I don't really know how they do what they do, but they say that the Ashwalkers can somehow harness an inner flame. Even without brands or fireware, they can still manifest many similar abilities. Any blazer along the Wick or down in the Embers can score a set of flamebound knuckles or a firetongue, but Ashwalkers have been seen to catch blasts of flame with their bare hands and hurl it back at their attackers or mold the flame into a sort of lance or whip to lay waste to everyone around them. They can run across flying sparks. I've even heard rumors about real masters being able to sheath their whole bodies with a solid fiery aura that lets them stand toe to toe with an infernal engine."''</blockquote>

The Hadar Ashwalkers are paragons of inner discipline, and have harnessed the very flame of their soul as a weapon and as a guardian. They can project searing heat from their bodies, see into the infrared, and guard themselves from the effects of fire. Together with the Shadows, they are the elite soldiers of the Hadar.

==Life and Death among the Hadar==

'''Benefits'''

* Family: everyone fears the Hadar; they are a family. Hurt one, and they are all after you. Join a Hadar family, and know they have your back. Also, respect; you have the flashy clothes, the hottest new mounts, and you move to the front of the line at restaurants and clubs.

'''Drawbacks'''

* The other families: it's a tough life, constantly getting blood revenge. After you're seen enough violence, it can be tough to remember the original reason why you're fighting; the flame Rage shades everything red. Also, loyalty only goes up the chain; you're expected to do what you're told. You steal what they tell you to steal, you threaten who they tell you to threaten, and you kill who they tell you to kill. And Flame forbid you get romantically involved with someone who's not family.

'''Powers'''

* The Hadar are masters of rune tattoo binding. No one else has your speed and reaction time with flame; bindstones and prayers deal with forces outside yourself, but your flame is a part of who you are, and you use it as instinctively as another walks.

'''Hadar Termination'''

* Blood in, blood out. You're in the Family for life ... literally. And sometimes you just Burnout.

'''Flamepunks'''

* They may copy Hadar rune tattoos as rune scars without fear of reprisals, but the secret of how to apply rune tattoos is kept among the highest ranks of the Families. Generally, rune scars aren't as powerful or versatile as rune tattoos, and much more painful to get, and much more prone to Rage and Burnout. The Hadar view 'punks as raw street trash, without their sense of belonging, history or family.

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Talk:Flamepunk: The Hadar Families

2008-01-19T02:25:48Z

Mock:

Material on honor and dispute resolution borrowed - pretty much entirely - from Bedouin culture, as cribbed by Daneel from the Wikipedia entry on same. --[[User:Mock|Mock]] 18:25, 18 January 2008 (PST)

Flamepunk: The Hadar Families

2008-01-19T02:24:40Z

Mock: /* Conflicts of Honor */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families]]

==The Hadar==

The Hadar are a loose confederation of crime families whose power rivals that of the Guilds. With fingers in every pie and at every level of society, they are dealers in sin and blood without equal. The Hadar tattoo themselves with images of black flames; it is whispered that they have made pacts with dark elemental lords, who grant them the power to douse flames and shatter lights.

"The Hadar" is the collective name for a group of powerful families who are one of the supreme military forces on (Name of World). The Hadar are involved in society at many levels, and find themselves coming into conflict with the Church and the Guilds. Hadar enterprises are frequently street-level, but they are by no means "common crooks" or unsophisticated thugs.

==Hadar Culture==

===Honor among the Hadar===

There is a saying that there is no honor among thieves, but rest assured this quaint idiom would be entirely foreign to the Hadar.

The central pillars of Hadar belief is honor, known as ''ird'' (for women) and ''sharaf'' (for men). There are distinctions between these two, most notably the fact that a woman's ''ird'', once lost, can never be regained. Since women own all property within Hadar society, as long as their ''ird'' is intact, the loss of ''ird'' can pitch an entire family group onto the street. By contrast, a man's ''sharaf'' can be lost and regained. In both cases, Hadar's honor is her unquestioned word and unimpeachable integrity, the promise that when she says a thing will be done, it is done.

Honor is so essential to the way of Hadar life that no insult is greater than impugning the honor of another Hadar. In a sense, the denigration of one's honor is worse than murder: a Hadar without honor is no Hadar, and when his flame goes out, he will be spat upon by his mother and sisters, and forgotten.

On the other hand, the Hadar rarely expect non-Hadar to understand, much less adhere to, their unique code. The word of an outsider is worth only as much as they can provide to back it up. It is the rare person who has earned the respect of a Hadar to the point that their word is good enough.

===Conflicts of Honor===

Since Hadar families are often in conflict with each other, it is inevitable that one Hadar will insult the honor of another. In most cases, questions of honor are settled in the old-fashioned way, by fists, feet, and blades. A savage beating, or even a murder, is by no means an unusual event among the Hadar.

The problem with such a rigid code of honor is that such exchanges, between two individuals, can quickly cascade into a blood feud between Families. The Hadar have, over the millennia, recognized that it was not always in the best interest of the Families to allow such endless feuding to continue to the detriment of the Hadar people. Avenging one's honor is one thing, but to act like blood-crazed savages is unbecoming. Thus, for those Hadar who seek it - or are forced to seek it by family - there exist a set of traditions and customs to resolve disputes and questions of honor among the Families.

Such arbitrations are handled by Family elders, and their word is law. If both parties accept the final ruling of the elders, then the conflict is over. However, it is the right of the parties to the dispute to singly or together refuse to accept a ruling from the elders. In such a case, the parties must undergo a trial. This trial may be an ordeal - usually painful, such as the ''bisha'a'' lie detection test - that both parties must undergo and be judged on; it may be a formal trial wherein witnesses and testimony are presented; or, in some cases, it is a simple duel. The most painful ordeals and duels are reserved for the most grievous conflicts.

==Hadar Organization==

Though individual Hadar operate indpendently for the majority of their work, they are all fall into the following hierarchy.

===The Families===

The true power behind the Hadar, and the feudal lords of all who serve them. Some Families are truly caring for their communities, while others seek only power and influence. The Families are interlinked by a byzantine web of contracts, marriages, and debts, and so rarely go to war against each other. It is not uncommon for Family members to hold ranks in the Guilds or in the Church, allowing Hadar influence a foothold in those organizations.

===Hadar Shadows===

The Hadar Shadows are expertly-trained warriors who specialize in the use of smokecraft to accomplish their goals. They can bend smoke to their will, using it to create confusion, poison their enemies, and extinguish flame-based weaponry.

===Hadar Ashwalkers===

<blockquote>''"You must be talking about the Ashwalkers, what they call their Hadarram. I don't really know how they do what they do, but they say that the Ashwalkers can somehow harness an inner flame. Even without brands or fireware, they can still manifest many similar abilities. Any blazer along the Wick or down in the Embers can score a set of flamebound knuckles or a firetongue, but Ashwalkers have been seen to catch blasts of flame with their bare hands and hurl it back at their attackers or mold the flame into a sort of lance or whip to lay waste to everyone around them. They can run across flying sparks. I've even heard rumors about real masters being able to sheath their whole bodies with a solid fiery aura that lets them stand toe to toe with an infernal engine."''</blockquote>

The Hadar Ashwalkers are paragons of inner discipline, and have harnessed the very flame of their soul as a weapon and as a guardian. They can project searing heat from their bodies, see into the infrared, and guard themselves from the effects of fire. Together with the Shadows, they are the elite soldiers of the Hadar.

==Life and Death among the Hadar==

'''Benefits'''

* Family: everyone fears the Hadar; they are a family. Hurt one, and they are all after you. Join a Hadar family, and know they have your back. Also, respect; you have the flashy clothes, the hottest new mounts, and you move to the front of the line at restaurants and clubs.

'''Drawbacks'''

* The other families: it's a tough life, constantly getting blood revenge. After you're seen enough violence, it can be tough to remember the original reason why you're fighting; the flame Rage shades everything red. Also, loyalty only goes up the chain; you're expected to do what you're told. You steal what they tell you to steal, you threaten who they tell you to threaten, and you kill who they tell you to kill. And Flame forbid you get romantically involved with someone who's not family.

'''Powers'''

* The Hadar are masters of rune tattoo binding. No one else has your speed and reaction time with flame; bindstones and prayers deal with forces outside yourself, but your flame is a part of who you are, and you use it as instinctively as another walks.

'''Hadar Termination'''

* Blood in, blood out. You're in the Family for life ... literally. And sometimes you just Burnout.

'''Flamepunks'''

* They may copy Hadar rune tattoos as rune scars without fear of reprisals, but the secret of how to apply rune tattoos is kept among the highest ranks of the Families. Generally, rune scars aren't as powerful or versatile as rune tattoos, and much more painful to get, and much more prone to Rage and Burnout. The Hadar view 'punks as raw street trash, without their sense of belonging, history or family.

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk: The Hadar Families

2008-01-19T02:16:30Z

Mock: /* The Hadar */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families]]

==The Hadar==

The Hadar are a loose confederation of crime families whose power rivals that of the Guilds. With fingers in every pie and at every level of society, they are dealers in sin and blood without equal. The Hadar tattoo themselves with images of black flames; it is whispered that they have made pacts with dark elemental lords, who grant them the power to douse flames and shatter lights.

"The Hadar" is the collective name for a group of powerful families who are one of the supreme military forces on (Name of World). The Hadar are involved in society at many levels, and find themselves coming into conflict with the Church and the Guilds. Hadar enterprises are frequently street-level, but they are by no means "common crooks" or unsophisticated thugs.

==Hadar Culture==

===Honor among the Hadar===

There is a saying that there is no honor among thieves, but rest assured this quaint idiom would be entirely foreign to the Hadar.

The central pillars of Hadar belief is honor, known as ''ird'' (for women) and ''sharaf'' (for men). There are distinctions between these two, most notably the fact that a woman's ''ird'', once lost, can never be regained. Since women own all property within Hadar society, as long as their ''ird'' is intact, the loss of ''ird'' can pitch an entire family group onto the street. By contrast, a man's ''sharaf'' can be lost and regained. In both cases, Hadar's honor is her unquestioned word and unimpeachable integrity, the promise that when she says a thing will be done, it is done.

Honor is so essential to the way of Hadar life that no insult is greater than impugning the honor of another Hadar. In a sense, the denigration of one's honor is worse than murder: a Hadar without honor is no Hadar, and when his flame goes out, he will be spat upon by his mother and sisters, and forgotten.

On the other hand, the Hadar rarely expect non-Hadar to understand, much less adhere to, their unique code. The word of an outsider is worth only as much as they can provide to back it up. It is the rare person who has earned the respect of a Hadar to the point that their word is good enough.

===Conflicts of Honor===

The Hadar may adhere to a profoundly rigid code of honor, but they recognize that such a code would have them acting like vengeance-driven savages without a sophisticated set of rules and customs devised to arbitrate disputes of honor.

Such arbitrations are handled by Family elders, unless one or both parties to the conflict refuse such a settlement. In that case, the parties must undergo a trial. This trial may be an ordeal - usually painful - that both parties must undergo and be judged on; it may be a formal trial wherein witnesses and testimony are presented; or, in some cases, it is a simple duel. The most painful ordeals and duels are reserved for the most grievous conflicts.

==Hadar Organization==

Though individual Hadar operate indpendently for the majority of their work, they are all fall into the following hierarchy.

===The Families===

The true power behind the Hadar, and the feudal lords of all who serve them. Some Families are truly caring for their communities, while others seek only power and influence. The Families are interlinked by a byzantine web of contracts, marriages, and debts, and so rarely go to war against each other. It is not uncommon for Family members to hold ranks in the Guilds or in the Church, allowing Hadar influence a foothold in those organizations.

===Hadar Shadows===

The Hadar Shadows are expertly-trained warriors who specialize in the use of smokecraft to accomplish their goals. They can bend smoke to their will, using it to create confusion, poison their enemies, and extinguish flame-based weaponry.

===Hadar Ashwalkers===

<blockquote>''"You must be talking about the Ashwalkers, what they call their Hadarram. I don't really know how they do what they do, but they say that the Ashwalkers can somehow harness an inner flame. Even without brands or fireware, they can still manifest many similar abilities. Any blazer along the Wick or down in the Embers can score a set of flamebound knuckles or a firetongue, but Ashwalkers have been seen to catch blasts of flame with their bare hands and hurl it back at their attackers or mold the flame into a sort of lance or whip to lay waste to everyone around them. They can run across flying sparks. I've even heard rumors about real masters being able to sheath their whole bodies with a solid fiery aura that lets them stand toe to toe with an infernal engine."''</blockquote>

The Hadar Ashwalkers are paragons of inner discipline, and have harnessed the very flame of their soul as a weapon and as a guardian. They can project searing heat from their bodies, see into the infrared, and guard themselves from the effects of fire. Together with the Shadows, they are the elite soldiers of the Hadar.

==Life and Death among the Hadar==

'''Benefits'''

* Family: everyone fears the Hadar; they are a family. Hurt one, and they are all after you. Join a Hadar family, and know they have your back. Also, respect; you have the flashy clothes, the hottest new mounts, and you move to the front of the line at restaurants and clubs.

'''Drawbacks'''

* The other families: it's a tough life, constantly getting blood revenge. After you're seen enough violence, it can be tough to remember the original reason why you're fighting; the flame Rage shades everything red. Also, loyalty only goes up the chain; you're expected to do what you're told. You steal what they tell you to steal, you threaten who they tell you to threaten, and you kill who they tell you to kill. And Flame forbid you get romantically involved with someone who's not family.

'''Powers'''

* The Hadar are masters of rune tattoo binding. No one else has your speed and reaction time with flame; bindstones and prayers deal with forces outside yourself, but your flame is a part of who you are, and you use it as instinctively as another walks.

'''Hadar Termination'''

* Blood in, blood out. You're in the Family for life ... literally. And sometimes you just Burnout.

'''Flamepunks'''

* They may copy Hadar rune tattoos as rune scars without fear of reprisals, but the secret of how to apply rune tattoos is kept among the highest ranks of the Families. Generally, rune scars aren't as powerful or versatile as rune tattoos, and much more painful to get, and much more prone to Rage and Burnout. The Hadar view 'punks as raw street trash, without their sense of belonging, history or family.

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk: The Hadar Families

2008-01-19T01:35:15Z

Mock: /* The Hadar */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families]]

==The Hadar==

The Hadar are a loose confederation of clans and families whose power rivals that of the Guilds. With fingers in every pie and at every level of society, they are dealers in sin and blood without equal. The Hadar tattoo themselves with images of black flames; it is whispered that they have made pacts with dark elemental lords, who grant them the power to douse flames and shatter lights.

"The Hadar" is the collective name for a group of powerful families who are one of the supreme military forces on (Name of World). The Hadar are involved in society at many levels, and find themselves coming into conflict with the Church and the Guilds. Hadar enterprises are frequently street-level, but they are by no means "common crooks" or unsophisticated thugs.

All Hadar are honor-bound to never betray their Family, regardless of the potential benefit for doing so.

==Hadar Organization==

Though individual Hadar operate indpendently for the majority of their work, they are all fall into the following hierarchy.

===The Families===

The true power behind the Hadar, and the feudal lords of all who serve them. Some Families are truly caring for their communities, while others seek only power and influence. The Families are interlinked by a byzantine web of contracts, marriages, and debts, and so rarely go to war against each other. It is not uncommon for Family members to hold ranks in the Guilds or in the Church, allowing Hadar influence a foothold in those organizations.

===Hadar Shadows===

The Hadar Shadows are expertly-trained warriors who specialize in the use of smokecraft to accomplish their goals. They can bend smoke to their will, using it to create confusion, poison their enemies, and extinguish flame-based weaponry.

===Hadar Ashwalkers===

<blockquote>''"You must be talking about the Ashwalkers, what they call their Hadarram. I don't really know how they do what they do, but they say that the Ashwalkers can somehow harness an inner flame. Even without brands or fireware, they can still manifest many similar abilities. Any blazer along the Wick or down in the Embers can score a set of flamebound knuckles or a firetongue, but Ashwalkers have been seen to catch blasts of flame with their bare hands and hurl it back at their attackers or mold the flame into a sort of lance or whip to lay waste to everyone around them. They can run across flying sparks. I've even heard rumors about real masters being able to sheath their whole bodies with a solid fiery aura that lets them stand toe to toe with an infernal engine."''</blockquote>

The Hadar Ashwalkers are paragons of inner discipline, and have harnessed the very flame of their soul as a weapon and as a guardian. They can project searing heat from their bodies, see into the infrared, and guard themselves from the effects of fire. Together with the Shadows, they are the elite soldiers of the Hadar.

==Life and Death among the Hadar==

'''Benefits'''

* Family: everyone fears the Hadar; they are a family. Hurt one, and they are all after you. Join a Hadar family, and know they have your back. Also, respect; you have the flashy clothes, the hottest new mounts, and you move to the front of the line at restaurants and clubs.

'''Drawbacks'''

* The other families: it's a tough life, constantly getting blood revenge. After you're seen enough violence, it can be tough to remember the original reason why you're fighting; the flame Rage shades everything red. Also, loyalty only goes up the chain; you're expected to do what you're told. You steal what they tell you to steal, you threaten who they tell you to threaten, and you kill who they tell you to kill. And Flame forbid you get romantically involved with someone who's not family.

'''Powers'''

* The Hadar are masters of rune tattoo binding. No one else has your speed and reaction time with flame; bindstones and prayers deal with forces outside yourself, but your flame is a part of who you are, and you use it as instinctively as another walks.

'''Hadar Termination'''

* Blood in, blood out. You're in the Family for life ... literally. And sometimes you just Burnout.

'''Flamepunks'''

* They may copy Hadar rune tattoos as rune scars without fear of reprisals, but the secret of how to apply rune tattoos is kept among the highest ranks of the Families. Generally, rune scars aren't as powerful or versatile as rune tattoos, and much more painful to get, and much more prone to Rage and Burnout. The Hadar view 'punks as raw street trash, without their sense of belonging, history or family.

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-19T01:29:49Z

Mock: /* The Hadar Families */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture==

===Language===

====Glossary====

A host of fire-related slang terms has grown with the burgeoning ranks of flamerunners and dispossessed street punks that fill the cities of (Name of World).

Glossary:

;Ash
:Excrement, offal (or, more generally, undesirable). Ash is what's left behind after a fire, and its use to mean "shit" was a natural development.

;Binder
:General term for someone who can bind elemental flame.

;Blazer
:Street slang for a tough guy, or a fighter. It is also used to refer to hired muscle. And equivalent term is '''burner'''.

;Burn
:Fight. Also used the sense of "get it on," "get going," or "let's roll."

;Brands
:Firebrands (actually a form of tattoing) used to augment the body.

;Brass
:One of the more common metals used to form flamerunning equipment, brass is used generally to mean "high-end, fancy equipment."

;Family
:A member of the Hadar, e.g. '''"Stay away from that blazer. He's Family."''

;Icepit
:A place where the spark (see below) is chronically absent; a boring place. An uncool (in the sense of popular) location.

;Muleblood
: In the brutally hot bloodforges, fleshshapers use the power of the Flame Realm to melt and reshape the flesh of men, turning them into...something else. They are reforged into an amalgam of flesh, metal and fire. These fearful creatures are called, in common parlance, '''mulebloods'''. Fleshshapers tend to refer to them as the "reforged," however.

;Snuff
:Derisive term for a chump, or a loser, someone whose spark is weak. ''"You want a piece of this, snuff? Come on then, let's burn." Also '''gutter'''.

;Spark
:Slang for firebonding or other fire magic, and the frequently visual side effects of the same. Typically, used to indicate the presence or absence of interesting stuff going on, e.g., ''Let's get outta here, burner. There's no spark in this icepit."

==Factions==

===Major Factions===

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

====[[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]====

Massive corporate conglomerates with a tight grip on the throat of the (Name of World) economy.

====[[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]====

A sprawling religious bureaucracy that appeases the people while perpetuating the use of flamebinding magic.

====[[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]====

Powerful families and clans woven together by a web of debts, marriages, and contracts going back thousands of years, the Hadar are involved in enterprises both legitimate and criminal.

===Minor Factions===

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Talk:Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-18T19:31:20Z

Mock:

The material on this page and the subsequent pages was adapted by me from writings of several RPGNet members in the original discussion thread, including Daneel, TheLoneAmigo, Asklepios, Broblawsky0, Brousseau, DannyK, and others whose names I have probably forgotten. Please feel free to lay claim to your material however you see fit. I apologize if I've overlooked anyone's name! --''[[User:Mock|Mock]] 11:31, 18 January 2008 (PST)''

Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame

2008-01-18T19:26:39Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame]]
----

Fire is life.

It gives us light, that we might see through the darkness. It gives us heat, that we might survive a winter's chill. It cooks our food, it powers our forges, our industries. Fire is life.

Fire purifies, searing away all that is unclean, reducing our flawed corporeal form, in death, to ashes. Fire is truth, and hope.

The way is clear to us, a blazing path illuminated by the Most Holy Flame, leading us away from our impure nature, teaching us. Saving us.

Fire is transformation, freeing us, making us holy. When the bodies of the righteous burn, all that is impure in them is rendered into ash, and they become sacred. Beings of Heat and Light, transcending into perfection.

In death, all shall burn within the Holy Flame. The virtuous shall rise up to Paradise, and the wicked shall be consumed, transformed, sent back to redeem themselves in service to the living as Elementals.

All praises to the Holy Flame.

: '''--From the Collected Sermons of the Transcendent Flame'''

(the above originally written by Brousseau, of rpg.net)

==The Church==

The Church of the Holy Flame is the primary religious force in (Name of World), and most people will - if only in secret - agree that it intends to remain that way by force, if necessary. The central tenet of Church doctrine is the worship of the Holy Flame, the spirit of the original flamebinder, the first person to ever call down fire from the heavens and bend it to her will. By this act, she transcended the crude ash of physical being and was purified to her essence.

So too is the destiny of all who embrace the light of the Holy Flame and believe.

==Church Doctrines==

===Unto the Fourth Generation===
;''The shadow of the parent is passed on to the child''
:''--Path to Purity, verse I''

The Church teaches that the sins of the parent are visited upon the child, and it is in the interest of every man and woman to live righteously, and seek to emulate the purity of the Holy Flame in all things, lest their children suffer for their selfish acts.

This can be seen in everyday life where the children of poor parents suffer the curse of being penniless themselves, and the children of rich parents have the blessings of wealth. Similarly, poor children are generally sicker, more likely to die young, dumber and uglier than rich kids.

The rich Guilds and powerful Hadar Families like pseudo-Divine Right because it provides a moral justification for their wealth, beauty, success, etc. The poor don't particularly like it, but the pseudo-logic evidence is hard to dispute.

===Loyalty and Excellence===
;''Obedience to those whose flame bears less shadow than your own is the key to purification''
:''--Path to Purity, Verse II''

Dogma further teaches that the only way to move up in life is to unquestioningly obey those with fewer shadows on their souls than you. The Church teaches constant loyalty, even to death, to those who are your betters. Finally, they teach Excellence in all you do, persevering against and overcoming the toughest challenges your masters place before you.

Often distilled down to the idea that "the Flame helps those who help themselves," this attitude can be seen in everyday life where those indendants who work very hard for a Guild can not only improve their lot in life, but also improve the lot of their children. With better education and medical care, their children are obviously prettier and smarter (on paper) than those born in the ash-slums.

The Guilds like the unquestioned obedience and working hard parts, but it's the Hadar Families that really like the unswerving loyalty and personal excellence; it's a bigger deal in a warring criminal organization than in a warring corporate environment. The poor don't particularly like this part either, but the pseudo-logic evidence is again hard to dispute.

===Altruistic Tithing===
;''He who provides fuel so that another's flame may burn brighter, shall be rewarded tenfold in the Realm of Purity''
:''--Path to Purity, Verse III''

Lastly, dogma teaches caring for those less fortunate than you, and it is here that the Church's true genius shows. Having their Missionary Hospices already in place, the Church argues that any other form of welfare are wasteful - only the Church, with their centuries of practice, can do it right.

This means that the Church is best placed as the sole source of handouts and medical care for the poorest people. This generates massive amounts of self-replicating gratitude on the part of the poor for the Church. Of course, hospices generally treat the symptoms, and not the problems. Similarly, they don't tolerate people who just want food doled out to them (the whole work hard attitude).

Generally they put those they're "helping" to work performing some Church or community service, like cleaning streets or caring for the sick and injured. If you prove yourself in these services, the opportunity exist to volunteer regularly as a hospice nurse, Church guard, Church "hostess" or one of dozens of other Missionary positions. These 'volunteers' are only paid in simple, bland food and a non-private spot on the floor in an unsafe and occasionally violent common room, but if you're down on your luck and starving to death...

The Guilds and Hadar Families don't particularly like this part of dogma, but they have very little choice in the matter, and realistically Tithing ten or even twenty percent isn't really all that much money to the richest. Over the years a type of blackmail system has sprung up where Church Paladins ferret out some of the less savory and shadowy secrets of the rich and powerful. Inquisitors then take the evidence of these actions and ask the individual implicated if he has any shadows on his soul he needs revealed to the Light. The Guild Sanctum Member or Hadar Mother/Father can then generally "buy forgiveness" for their sins by making a gift to the poor. The alternative is that the information leaks to where it can do the most damage: perhaps to a rival, or to your own employees, or even to the populace in general, inciting a riot. Time and experience has taught most not to screw with the Church of the Living Eternal Flame.

Of course, all is not bad, as especially generous or regular donations are noted by the Church: "This Eternal Flame Hospice opened with a generous contribution by Senior Sanctum Member Argus Pos'par of the Salamander Guild!"

==Church Influence==

The Church is a massive institution, and its presence is felt at all levels of society. Health services, the courts, municipal maintenance, houses of comfort (brothels) -- these are just some of the services that are managed by or performed directly by Church affiliates. Media, likewise, are primarily Church-owned (although there are independent media outlets which have come into conflict - sometimes violent - with the Church), and due to the combination of extensive public works, beneficial and/or popular public services, and masterful propaganda, are generally well-liked by the general populace.

==Church Organization==

The Church of the Holy Flame, like any good bureaucracy, has a number of semi-independent arms, all reporting to the central Church leadership. Each branch of the church handles particular tasks.

===Ecclesiarchy===

The Ecclesiarchy is the executive branch of the Church, composed of clergy, and forms the central leadership of the Church. Ecclesiarchs run the gamut from the low ranking Acolytes to supremely powerful and influential Bishops and Archbishops. The head of the Church is known as the Beacon, or sometimes as the Flamebearer.

===Templars of the Burning Light===

Soldiers for the Church, the Templars promote themselves as being the light in the darkness. They pupportedly protect the people by fighting against demons and rogue elementals that harass the fringes of society, and are well loved by the media. At street level they're exactly what they appear to be - fearless defenders of the people. On the other hand the Inner Circle knows the truth: the threats which the Templars fight are actually summoned and released by the Church, in order to give society an external threat to war against.

===Paladins===

Paladins are the Flamespace operatives of the Church. They're pegged as Templars for the "other place", and are almost as loved. As well as hunting rogue elementals they also work to knock down flamerunners who threaten the Church. They consider themselves the police force of Flamespace. Despite their name, Paladins are far from being paragons of virtue. Because their domain is out of sight, they act with greater license, happy that their indiscretions and brutal methods will never be known to anyone save for their flamerunner adversaries. They do a lot more black ops work than the Templars, and use Flamespace to manipulate the world.

===Missionaries of the Sacred Flame===

Church Missionaries are PR people, pure and simple. They set up hospices, run by mundane staff. They make speeches in the market square. They proselytise, and they sermon. Thanks to the missionaries, rebellious sorts are viewed by wider society as being nothing less than destructive anarchists. Missionaries also act as investigators hunting for subversion and heresy, most especially the '''Inquisitors of the Sacred Flame''' - specially trained missionaries who act as an investigative arm. Inquisitors are feared, yes, but not hated. Society respects them and believes in their righteousness. The players almost certainly know better.

==Life and Death (and Life after Death) in the Church==

'''Benefits'''
* Power and Prestige: none are as universally respected and feared as Templars and Paladins, and you get to look good as altruistic benefactors, too. Plus you know you're better than everyone else.

'''Drawbacks'''
* Once you're ordained, you get this inhuman thing living behind your eyes. Its thought are really too alien to understand, but it does enjoy lighting things on fire. Also, sometimes your flame will go for a little jaunt in your body without your permission, generally when you're asleep or incapacitated during a fight. It sometimes gets a little "out or hand" during these jaunts. But all is not lost, for as you practice and gain experience using the powers of your internal flame, the better you get and understanding what its thinking; even if it gets harder to remember human concepts, like mercy and justice.

'''Powers'''

* No one else has the pure control you have over fire; tattoos and bindstones are static effects, but you actually house living flame. The better you understand it, the easier it is to put your thoughts, or prayers, into terms your living flame can understand. Your flame even can allow you to confuse or misdirect the smaller flames in their tools for a short time. There is nothing that a tattoo or bindstone can do that your flame can't copy without the need for tools, and a few things you can do they will never understand.

'''Termination'''

* There is nothing so evil as heresy, those ordained who do not strive to better understand the Eternal Flame; they must be found and their souls cleansed by Inquisition fire. Fortunately, heretics are easy to recognize - their internal flame has fled, taking its blessings with it.

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk: The Guilds

2008-01-18T19:25:15Z

Mock:

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]] -> [[Flamepunk: The Guilds]]

----

<blockquote>Vustus gazed out across the colossal manufacturing floor, his dry eyes barely able to make out the far wall through the heat-mirage and smoke. He gazed impassively at the huge furnaces-class elementals, massive stampers, and ant-like moving workers.</blockquote>

<blockquote>''Master of all I survey,'' he thought contentedly, ''each indentant like a brick in a wall. Well, not all quite square bricks'', he mentally amended, his burn-scared callused hand loving stroking the flame-lash he wore on his hip. ''Some indendants need more encouragement than others''. Other Fabricators preferred to focus on enhancing various elemental bindstones or finding better ways to do things, but he had always enjoyed ... motivating ... his workers. His excellent efficiency ratings set the bar for other departments within the Phoenix Guild.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"Fabricators Vustus," wheezed an overseer as he jogged up. ''He's got the black-lung sickness, sure enough'', thought Vustus, eyeing the gasping man, ''but his quotas haven't been quite high enough in the past to afford a visit to a wellbeing Magus. If he doesn't clean up his act soon, he's going to end up demoted back to indendant''.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"Yes, overseer?" rumbled Vustus, through his expensive ash-mask; he kept his quotas up.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"There's a problem with one of the cauldrons, sir," panted the overseer.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"What type of problem, overseer?" the Fabricator growled. ''Damn, I hate having to drag information out of an indendant!''</blockquote>

<blockquote>The overseer opened his mouth to answer, when suddenly the twanging cry of over-stressed iron giving sang out across the manufacturing floor. Both men turned to face the sound just in time to see a one of the huge overhead liquid metal transfer cauldrons come off its rail and drop squarely into an equally large quenching vat below. Billows of steam sprayed out for a few seconds, scalding nearby workers, before the suddenly cooled cauldron shattered into a spray of iron shrapnel. Vustus watched impassively as the no longer contained viscous liquid copper flowed around the legs of the nearby steam-blinded indendants. All across the factory floor the sounds of human screams started up as random victims noticed burned off feet and sucking chest wounds.</blockquote>

<blockquote>A nearby gurgling noise drew Vustus' attention and he looked down at the surprised face of the overseer as lifeblood spurted out from where a piece of shrapnel had torn out his neck. ''Too coincidental for accident, must be some type of industrial sabotage'', thought Vustus, ''probably the Salamander Guild, we've been outselling them in this market recently. Not my business, really, I'll let the Ursers deal with it.''</blockquote>

<blockquote>''What'' is ''my business is keeping this facility producing at top efficiency''. Vustus sighed. He could see a lot of long days ahead cleaning up the mangled metal and contracting new indentants. ''At least I have a convenient scapegoat'', he thought, grinning down at the now silent corpse from behind his mask. ''He won't mind, and this way he doesn't have to suffer through black-lung''. ''--originally written by Daneel--''</blockquote>

==The Guilds==

The Guilds are the financial heart of (Name of World), managing, organizing, and controlling commercial enterprise across the land. Naturally, this gives the Guilds immense power and influence, and they compete with each other for wealth and status as often as they contend with the Church and the Families.

Chances are that any person working in a legitimate job in any city on (Name of World) is a member of, or subject to the regulations of, one of the Guilds. In fact, the Guilds frown on individuals who set up independent operations, and frequently make their displeasure known in ways that are...''unpleasant'', to say the least. It is rare that an "independent" businessman needs a ''second'' visit from the Hellforged to realize the error of his ways.

Guild factories and businesses employ the bulk of the population, who spend long hours toiling in less-than-healthy conditions to scrape together enough pay to feed their families.

==Guild Organization==

Though the Guild responsible for any particular areas of enterprise - cindersmiths, or flamebinders, for example - may have slight variations in structure or use slightly different names for various levels of responsibility, the general structure of a Guild is a complex hierarchy based on business acumen, debt and credit, and sheer cutthroat ruthlessness.

===Guildlords===

These are the head of a particular Guild, and are usually possessed of an uncanny deviousness, political savvy, and a frighteningly calculating nature. After all, they lived to make it to the top.

===The Sanctum===

The core management of each Guild - like a Board of Directors. Each Sanctum directs the affairs of their Guild, aiming for maximum profit at whatever cost. Competition between Guilds is fierce, but rarely erupts into open violence. Some say this is because even Guilds must respect the law, but others suggest that there is a secret True Sanctum that commands the individual Sanctums of each Guild. These whisperers claim that the True Sanctum has a sinister agenda beyond pure profit, to which goal they are gradually guiding the guilds.

===Fabricators===

Specialist guilders who focus on construction and tech-making. They are also pyro-scientists, and if there is a Guild research facility or factory its most likely run by a Fabricator.

===Usurers===

Financial experts who handle the money side of things. They usually rank lower than Guildlords and Fabricators, and are less respected, but no less vital.

===Journeymen===

Everyday guildsmen and -women, handling day to day guild business.

===Hellforged===

<blockquote>''"Yeah, I've seen them. Loaded down with more brands, brass, and fireware than a whole flock of the Cardinal's guard. They can burn hot, but they aren't too bright. They've got hearts of ash. If you ever get close to one that still has human eyes, you'll notice that they aren't really human eyes anymore. More like a doll's eyes. Sure, when their sparks are stoked, they're full of rage enough to tear through anything. But when they're idling? They're hollow men. They've got the sinister purpose and all the personality of a knife blade."''</blockquote>

Sometimes people need a little ''persuasion'' to come around to seeing things the right way. That's where the Hellforged come in. Guild Hellforged are little more than heavily augmented killing machines, loaded down with flamebindings, specializing in the use of steamtech exoskeletons, and covered with brands and subdermal obsidian core implants. They are fearsome warriors, but in exchange for near-unstoppable power, they have subsumed their will to the Guild.

===Indentants===

Low-ranking workers, they form the bulk of Guild laborers. Their contract requires them to comply with Guild restrictions and regulations.

==Life and Death in the Guilds==

'''Benefits'''

* Money: Guild members are rich. The more you brownnose and claw your way up the corporate ladder and conform to their ideas the more credit you get. This gives you access to bigger and better and more bindstones.

'''Drawbacks'''

* The more you subsume self to the interests of the Guild, the less individualistic you become. You become one of the herd, stuck in a rut, indistinguishable from any one of a thousand other indendnats. You wear the same bland clothes they wear, listen to the same dull music they do, and carry the same credit balances they do. Also, bindstones have some type of physical control: you need to push a button or flip a switch or verbally tell it what to do.

'''Powers'''

* Most people just carry bindstones around. Guild Hellforged have the option of wearing an integrated suit of elemental armor with dozens of bindstones built into it. Hellswords, ash-masks, even a built in class four cipher! No one else is as tough as you are; tattoos and prayers can't stand up to the pure durability of a bindstone when it comes to channeling flame.

'''Termination'''

* Of course, you can leave at any time, but your contract specifies a 'no competition' clause, so other Guilds won't hire you. Also, all credit balances become due upon termination of employment.

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk:Main Page

2008-01-18T18:57:20Z

Mock: /* The Pitch */

=Flamepunk=

''The sky above Sardukar was the colour of charcoal, roasted by the flickering flames below.

''Skaz shouldered his way through the hulking mulebloods standing watch over the door of the Cascade. Cool air and mist flowed around him as he stepped in; the Cascade wasn't a tavern for blazers. You could drink there for a week and not see a single spark.

''Today, however, was not a typical day. At a far corner table sat Ella herself, surrounded by cheap hired blazers. One of them gestured towards Skaz, his flamebonded knuckles glittering with sparks. Skaz found his way to the table, pushing past a group of Kiora warriors, with muscled chests covered in ritual scarring. "I see you got yourself all ashfaced, Skaz." Ella said, as Skaz settled across from her. "Business not so good?"

''Skaz shrugged. Behind him, the Kiora started singing a drunken chant. "I keep myself busy enough." he said, "So what brings you to a icepit like this?"

''A broad smile spread across the face of the Queen of Cinders. "You."

'''-William Gibson's Pyromancer'''

I ''love'' cyberpunk. I love the gritty feeling of chrome on my fingertips, of street punks fighting the corporate machine. Who doesn't? Sometimes, however, it can feel a little old. Eighties nostalgia only takes you so far. Leather and mirrorshades go out with last season's wardrobe. So... I'd like to dress the punk up in some new clothes.

They'd better be fireproof.

==The Pitch==

Magic in Flamepunk consists of essentially one thing: the summoning, binding, and control of elementals from the [[Flamepunk: The Realm of Flames|Realm of Flames]]. This magic, however, has forged the basis for an entire civilization, built on the power of unearthly flames. Never doubt the adeptness of the human mind when it comes to adapting to new ideas. Industry and transportation, engineering and medicine; the art of elemental binding has been used to revolutionize every science and field of endeavour.

A society has grown where the binder is king, and fire is his tool. Applications range from molten forges that warp and shape metal by themselves, to precise scapels of fire that cut and slice with pinpoint accuracy, from engines that drive on wheels of fire, to the boiling fleshpits where the flesh of men is melted and reforged into the hulking mulebloods...

==The Price==

There's no such thing as a free lunch. With every elemental called into the world, a little of the sun's warmth is lost. The ice fields begin to creep south, destroying the livelihoods and homelands of farmers and villagers. As the cityfolk bask in the flames of a new era, the broader land grows cursed by an ever-deepening winter...

==The Powers==

Follow the Money, and you'll find the Man.

Follow the money and it will lead you to the mighty [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|Guilds]]; binders and cindersmiths, merchants and fleshshapers. These conglomerates, rich and decadent, hold sway over the cities of brass. Guildmasters command private armies and flamecraft beyond imagining, and squabble amongst themselves in subtle wars for power, wealth, and status...

The [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|Church of the Holy Flame]] is perhaps little more than a tool of the Guilds for controlling the populace, but it is nonetheless a powerful tool. Great cathedrals rise in its name. Its priests are often skilled binders, and they command the loyalty of the faithful. And woe betide he who offers prayers to the Old Gods, for the Inquisiton of the Cleansing Flame gives no mercy to idolators and demon-worshippers...

The [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|Hadar families]] are criminals whose power rivals that of the Guilds. With fingers in every pie and at every level of society, they are dealers in sin and blood without equal. The Hadar tattoo themselves with images of black flames; it is whispered that they have made pacts with dark elemental lords, who grant them the power to douse flames and shatter lights...

==The Punks==

In the slums and poorhouses of the growing cities, forces have begun to arise that challenge the system; youths who chafe at the bit and gangs who fight to tear down the structures of society. The disenfranchised want to hit back; and they have the tools to do it. Gang members with nothing to lose have elementals bound into their very bodies; sparkflash eyes, flamebound knuckles, and tongues of flame.

Other, bolder souls take up the deadly art of [[Flamepunk: Flamerunning|flamerunning]], projecting themselves into the Realm of Flames itself, where flame can be manipulated from afar and the souls of the dead can be found. Within the Realm, the laws of the physical world are less important than willpower and emotion... a sword is forged from the feeling of hate you have when you hit someone, a candle from desire to be protected against the dark.

=Contents=

==Setting==

*[[Flamepunk: History|History]]
*[[Flamepunk: The World and Society|The World and Society]]
*[[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions|People, Culture and Factions]]
 

==Rules==

*[[Flamepunk: Character Generation: The Forge|Character Generation: The Forge]]
*[[Flamepunk: Basic Rules|Basic Rules]]
*[[Flamepunk: Combat and Conflict|Combat and Conflict]]
*[[Flamepunk: Social Combat|Social Combat]]
*[[Flamepunk: Action Scenes|Action Scenes]]

*[[Flamepunk: Technology and Weaponry|Technology and Weaponry]]
*[[Flamepunk: Magic, Summoning and Elementalism|Magic, Summoning and Elementalism]]
*[[Flamepunk: Flamerunning|Flamerunning]]
 

=Resources=

Game resources:

*[[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=373811 Game Design Discussion Thread]]
 

=Credits=

 '''Original concept imagined by ''TheLoneAmigo'' of rpg.net.'''

'''Setting and background provided by:'''

* ''[[User:Mock|Mock]]'' of rpg.net.

''* add your names!''

'''Game Rules created by:'''

* ''[[User:Asklepios|Asklepios]]'' of rpg.net.

[[Category:Flamepunk]]

Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions

2008-01-18T18:53:42Z

Mock: /* Culture */

[[Flamepunk:Main Page]] -> [[Flamepunk: People, Culture and Factions]]

==People==

==Culture==

===Language===

====Glossary====

A host of fire-related slang terms has grown with the burgeoning ranks of flamerunners and dispossessed street punks that fill the cities of (Name of World).

Glossary:

;Ash
:Excrement, offal (or, more generally, undesirable). Ash is what's left behind after a fire, and its use to mean "shit" was a natural development.

;Binder
:General term for someone who can bind elemental flame.

;Blazer
:Street slang for a tough guy, or a fighter. It is also used to refer to hired muscle. And equivalent term is '''burner'''.

;Burn
:Fight. Also used the sense of "get it on," "get going," or "let's roll."

;Brands
:Firebrands (actually a form of tattoing) used to augment the body.

;Brass
:One of the more common metals used to form flamerunning equipment, brass is used generally to mean "high-end, fancy equipment."

;Family
:A member of the Hadar, e.g. '''"Stay away from that blazer. He's Family."''

;Icepit
:A place where the spark (see below) is chronically absent; a boring place. An uncool (in the sense of popular) location.

;Muleblood
: In the brutally hot bloodforges, fleshshapers use the power of the Flame Realm to melt and reshape the flesh of men, turning them into...something else. They are reforged into an amalgam of flesh, metal and fire. These fearful creatures are called, in common parlance, '''mulebloods'''. Fleshshapers tend to refer to them as the "reforged," however.

;Snuff
:Derisive term for a chump, or a loser, someone whose spark is weak. ''"You want a piece of this, snuff? Come on then, let's burn." Also '''gutter'''.

;Spark
:Slang for firebonding or other fire magic, and the frequently visual side effects of the same. Typically, used to indicate the presence or absence of interesting stuff going on, e.g., ''Let's get outta here, burner. There's no spark in this icepit."

==Factions==

===Major Factions===

The world of Flamepunk is one of infighting, competing influence, and power brokering among powerful factions that seek to control the world, the people, and the magic. However, three major contenders for the role of "world domination" have arisen through the twists of history.

Since these organizations are so influential in the large and small activities of everyday life, each of them is given their own page.

====[[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]====

Massive corporate conglomerates with a tight grip on the throat of the (Name of World) economy.

====[[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]====

A sprawling religious bureaucracy that appeases the people while perpetuating the use of flamebinding magic.

====[[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar Families]]====

Criminal families woven together by a web of debts, marriages, and contracts going back thousands of years, the Hadar are involved in enterprises both legitimate and criminal.

===Minor Factions===

==Pages related to this topic==

* [[Flamepunk:Main_Page| Flamepunk Main Page]]
* [[Flamepunk:_The_World_and_Society|The World and Society]]
* [[Flamepunk:_History|History]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Church of the Holy Flame|The Church of the Holy Flame]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Hadar Families|The Hadar]]
* [[Flamepunk: The Guilds|The Guilds]]

[[Category:Flamepunk]]